A Springtime Interview
by Antoine
Summary: Fazbear's Fright burned to the ground years ago, but some pieces survived. A curious young man named Karl decides to uncover the truth, to hear the story straight from the bunny's mouth. Rated M for violence
1. Starting Young

_Warning:_

 _This story, like the original lore on which it is based, contains graphic depictions of death, including the killing of innocent children. Reader discretion is advised._

 _Author's Note:_

 _It has been a long time since I tried writing FanFiction, and I honestly was not very good at it last I tried, but I found myself quite inspired by the FNAF lore, so here we are, in a perspective I have not seen done before, and with a little more experience under my belt, having served as a beta-reader for a while._

 _I heartily encourage constructive criticism, whether by review or private message. I always want to improve. If you_ liked _it, then I_ certainly _want to know that, too! What jumped out at you? What did you find meaningful? Review every chapter, if it pleases you!_

* * *

Very well, then. I will start at the beginning.

I had a friend, once, you know? I did not really look for people with whom to associate, but this one reached out to me for whatever reason. Consorting with him was... interesting. We were in elementary school. He and I lived in the same neighborhood, and we would walk together back home from school. We enjoyed being away from the crowd, so instead of taking the main roads, we took a shortcut, following a ravine through a small wood.

I am not sure what grade it was. It was very long ago. I do remember this one day, though. At lunch, I saw that Albert had a cupcake in his lunch. This was special. Albert's family did not have much. He came to school with worn out shoes and crudely patched up jeans. Still, though his classmates always had better toys and nicer clothes, he kept a friendly, positive attitude about it, which was unusual for someone our age.

Most little bastards that age lose their minds over not having the best things, not having the newest toys and games, always wanting mommy and daddy to keep giving more and more. Rotten, parasitic little-

I got off track. I apologize. I was talking about a cupcake. This was a special cupcake. However, after Albert finished his sandwich, he simply put his cupcake back into its bag, into his backpack, and waited for the bell to signal us back to class. "What child our age would pass up a block of sugary chocolate and frosting?" I wondered.

Once school let out for the day, he and I started to walk home, as we usually did. I took that opportunity to ask him.

"Why didn't you want your cupcake? Is something wrong with it? Is it stale? Rotten?"

"No. Um... I'm sure it's really good, um..."

Albert stammered. I found this very grating on my nerves.

"I- I... m-my little sister's birthday is today, a-and. Well, um... it's hard b-because we d-d..."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I knew I had to be patient. If I insulted Albert's disgusting speech impediment now, I might not learn what motivated him, and I was interested in learning. I was always interested in learning.

"We d-don't have anything... for gifts th-this year. Um... ah... so, I wanted to give it to her. We- um... it's worse for us... this year, and well... she deserves something."

I felt my blood start to boil as he stopped and looked out over the ravine that would lead us near our neighborhood. He was going to give it to his little sister. He was not even going to get anything for it. He had so little, and he was going to waste his one tiny bit of pleasure on something that offered no return whatsoever. I could not stand it.

I had observed much in my interactions with Albert and the other children in school. There was so much triviality, so much stupidity, so much to loathe and to hold in disdain. I knew that one could not and should not expect handouts. One had to fight for and take whatever one wanted. One had to be smart and plan well to avoid being a victim.

Albert had left his back to me. I realized how easy it would be to just give him a little push. He was practically begging me to do it, anyway; he left himself completely vulnerable. I decided that I had observed enough from him, and I did what came naturally. I tried something new. After all, new experiences are how we learn. I gave him a little push.

He gave a shout, but of course, no one was around to hear him. His arms started pinwheeling as he pitched forward, and it occurred to me that I still had a chance to change my mind if I wanted. I grabbed his backpack.

Albert started to shift and twist in panic. His young body had slipped out of one strap, and he was hanging onto the other for dear life, his small legs kicking wildly in the air below him, while I held him by the top of the backpack, savoring the moment in which I held his life in my hands.

"OH! OH, GOD! HELP ME! PLEASE, HELP ME UP!"

He called out. I made another observation. His stammering seemed to stop when he was afraid of imminent death. I paused and realized that I did not want to let go, well, at least not yet.

"Hold on a moment." I told him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He called back.

Holding onto the backpack's top handle with one hand, I used the other to unzip the top just enough to reach in and grab the bag that held the cupcake. I brought it back out, and I set it on the grass beside me.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, VINCENT, HELP ME, PLEASE!" Albert shouted. Here I let go.

I had never heard a scream quite like that. It really was different from the screams children gave on the playground when getting overexcited about a game. There was also the cracking sound when he hit the rocks at the bottom. That was new, too. It was all quite exhilarating! The rush I got was quite a high.

I watched closely, as the subject of death had intrigued me. It was never really presented in much detail in the stories our parents told us. Certainly, some stories had plenty of death, but only in simple reference, "The wolf died, drowned, burned, or whatever". Nothing had ever explained exactly what happens as someone is dying. I wanted to see this.

Albert's body was not simply lifeless. At least not yet. He twitched. He convulsed, even as crimson blood poured from an open wound on his head, flowing with the rest of the stream at the bottom of the ravine, but the blood quickly became invisible among the muddy water. I estimate that it was nearly half a minute after his landing before his movement became too slight for me to see from the distance I was above him.

* * *

"That was the first time I killed someone."

"God, you're... disgusting. That wasn't even what I was asking about-"

"Do you like cupcakes?"

"... Sure"

"Have you ever eaten one for which you killed another person?"

"... No."

"I have. … I have eaten cupcakes for which I killed no one, and I have eaten a cupcake for which I killed someone, and let me tell you... the latter was the most delicious by far."

"... Jesus... I don't know what I was expecting... But that's not what I meant by my question. I meant to ask about how things got started at the pizzeria. How did you... why did you... start killing _at the pizzeria_? Tell me about Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

"Hm-hmm, I was wondering when you were going to ask me directly."


	2. The Depth of my Research

_Author's Note:_

 _So, are you ready to read what Springtrap said about being at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza?! Well, sorry, I decided to "Tarantino" it and go back a bit, first. I really want to flesh out Karl's character a bit more and explain the frame of the story a bit better._

 _I also am introducing another couple of characters at whose roles I hint here, but that become clearer later._

 _Please let me know what you think! I may jump back and forth a few times in the chronology of this story as necessary, but I will do my best to make sure that the timing is clear by providing transitions between chapters so that one can piece them back together mentally without much difficulty. :)_

* * *

I was surprised that I had to come to you. I had not been expecting your need for my help.

I arrived and saw you there, at the bottom of a ravine, in so much pain. Your body and your soul were both aching terribly. Your life had been a difficult one, even as short as it was, and I appeared to you in a form that represented in your mind what I offered to you, comfort. I appeared as a kind and beautiful woman, wearing a soft, blue gown.

Your eyes met mine and you pleaded to me with your heart. I offered you comfort, a relief from all of the pain, so you would never have to feel any disappointment again. I offered my hand, and you took it.

I held you to me, and we left your broken body behind. Briefly, a dark shade also appeared near us. It, too, reached out to you. It whispered:

 _Are you going to let him get away with that?_

However, you clung to me, eager to leave behind the pain. You were a good child, Albert. Most are. I wish they all could be like you...

* * *

I parked my pickup truck in front of Edward's house. It looked like a fairly normal two-bedroom house in the suburbs. I guess somehow I was expecting something... out of the ordinary, considering what I had come here for.

I was so excited! This was going to be huge for me. This, right here, was going to be a defining moment in my career, I just knew it! I took a deep breath, and then I knocked on his door.

A minute later, I heard the latches opening, and I saw Edward. He looked pretty ordinary, too. He was in his fifties, about six feet tall with dark hair and a fair complexion. "You're... Karl. Right?" he asked, nervously.

"Yup! We spoke on the phone before. Let's see him!" I responded.

Edward looked at his watch nervously. "You're late."

"Better late than never, right?"

"You understand you **have** to have him secured by midnight, right? No matter **WHAT** -"

"I have it covered. Please, let's not waste any more time, then!" Edward opened the door and let me in. He started to walk toward the back of the house, heading to the stairs leading to the basement.

"How... did you find me?" Edward asked me.

"You know what a **public** auction means, right?" I replied.

"Ah."

For a few more seconds, there was silence, and then Edward said:

"Why do you want him? Do you not believe what I told you?"

I chuckled. "I want him **because** of what you told me. I'm a scientist, and I **do** believe you! I'm going to study him and put this whole mess to rest! You spent a pretty penny on him yourself at the auction. Why do that and now give him up so easily?"

Edward gave a single, dry laugh and said, "Heh. I was a fan. Back in the day. I was really into the whole Freddy Fazbear's craze. Jeez. What a weird fad that was. You're too young to really remember..."

"Oh, I've read _all_ about it, believe me."

I tried not to be offended. I was very eager to be taken seriously as a scientist, and being told I'm too young to remember something or being called "kid" was one of my pet peeves. I was twenty-one years old, but I was ready to earn some respect. This project would certainly do that for me.

Edward continued talking as we walked through his basement, and I realized that most of his house was underground. This was more than a two-bedroom house.

"Well, I was in the middle of it, when it was at its peak. I mean, first there were just the news stories and rumors, not much attention... and then somehow it got this sort of cult following... I mean like an urban legend, people started writing creepy pastas about it, making animations and even some really messed up fan-fiction, if you can believe it. I think it really took off with the release of that video game... what was it called again?"

"Five Nights at Freddy's." I answered.

"Yeah. Jeez. That was back in twenty... fourteen? Fifteen? Not sure. I was just your age then, but... we didn't know what we were doing. It was so much more real than any of us knew. Kids were wearing fucking Freddy Fazbear costumes for Halloween, and..."

Edward trailed off and then got a more serious look on his face.

He sighed and shook his head. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, kid... Just... be fucking _care_ ful, okay? I mean..."

"Right, right" I replied, eager to get to my prize. I continued reciting back to Edward: "Get him secured before midnight, he's only active from midnight to six AM, and he stinks like dead meat; I got it." I was starting to smell it myself by that point, so I was excited to know that we were getting close.

"Okay..." Edward replied somewhat deadpan. "Just get him out of my house."

That is when I saw... him. The one the community had come to call "Springtrap". The outer frame was that of an old animatronic suit from the 1970's. The idea was to have a robot that could double as a suit. If a person needed to wear it, a hand crank would be inserted into a socket and turned to retract the robotic components, fixing them in place with spring locks, so that it could be returned to robot form with the gentle push of a button, but in the mean time, it would have given room for someone to get inside.

It had a slightly rounded belly and bunny ears on its yellow frame. Well, at least it was probably once yellow. Now, it was a sickening greenish yellow in some parts, burnt brown on most, part of one of its ears was missing, some pieces were rusted through and looked like they might fall off. The outer frame was thoroughly damaged, scorched, and worn over the decades. The internal parts were showing in several places, revealing torn wires, rusted metal, and the distinct scent of rotting carcass. There seemed to be places where, under the outer covering, even underneath the mechanical frame, there was something else, something soft that should not have been there. The rumors had been true.

He was chained to the concrete floor with different sizes of chains and numerous locks, all seemingly selected and placed haphazardly. It was as though he were locked down in stages. I surmised that Edward had just gotten paranoid and added additional chains and locks whenever he felt panicky. It took us several minutes to get the chains and ropes all off. The stench by this point was really rancid, but I barely noticed. I could scarcely believe I was laying hands on the real, bona fide Springtrap.

Edward and I wrapped Springtrap up in a thick blue tarp, and we carried him back through the basement, up the stairs, out the door, and into my truck. Edward then offered me his chains and locks, saying that he would not need them anymore, but that I would. I told him that, where I was going, I would not need them, either. He seemed angry and demanded that I take this seriously, so I took the chains and locks to help him calm down.

"Oh, Jesus! I almost forgot! Please wait, just a second!" Edward said, running back inside.

A minute later, he returned, carrying a small, rusted, bent metal object. "Don't forget this." He said.

I stared at it in confusion for a moment, trying to figure out what it was. It was like a metal rod, bent in two places at ninety degree angles, and then it hit me. "The hand-crank! Thanks!" I said.

Then I drove, with a priceless treasure in the bed of my truck, to the bunker.

The bunker had been built almost a century ago, back when mankind was on the brink of destruction from global thermonuclear war. This was going to be far more secure than Edward's basement. I loaded Springtrap onto my wheeled cart, and we got into the freight elevator. There were stairs, but there was no way I was getting him down the stairs, and there were quite a lot of them.

We reached the bottom, and I got his heavy frame through the corridor, down to the observation chamber I had set up. Months of planning and searching were finally going to pay off.

I loaded him onto a table, sort of like an uncushioned stretcher, against the wall, and I locked the inch-thick solid tempered steel cuffs around his large wrists. The cuffs were bolted into the concrete wall by three inch steel bolts. This guy was going nowhere until I said so. I set the hand-crank down on a tray next to the harness.

I got out my phone. Sure enough, no bars, no wi-fi, no connectivity whatsoever. That was important. If there were any chance of any radio signals getting in or out, someone could try to use that to discredit everything for which I had worked so hard, by claiming it was a hoax run by some sort of remote control.

I turned on some music I had saved to my phone's memory, and set the phone down next to him. Then, I left the room, locking the steel door behind me. I walked over to the control room I had set up. I was pleased to note that I could not hear the music, so at least the sound was being properly blocked by the wall. I could see Springtrap clearly through the glass separating us.

I powered on the ancient console, and my heart raced with anticipation as I saw the 20th century displays lighting up and displaying their various boot screens. I reached for the audio controls and flipped the switch that would link me to my subject. The music from my phone came in clear as crystal. I checked the cameras. They were recording, and I could see and hear the observation chamber on the feed. Success! Everything was in place.

Unlocking the door, I retrieved my phone, and went back to have a seat in the control booth. I checked the phone's clock. It was 11:00 PM. I was ready.

…

I was tapping nervously as the clock continued to display "11:59" for what felt like an hour. The most important research of my life was about to begin. My notification finally beeped at me to tell me that it was midnight, and I looked up to see Springtrap's eyes had opened and were staring right at me. I felt my heart skip a beat. The eyes were cold and glassy, and they did not blink.

I took a deep gulp and listened closely. The switch was on to receive audio from his chamber, but I heard nothing. I could still turn on my own audio and try to speak to him. I checked my recording. It was still running smoothly. I turned on my microphone.

"Uh... he-hello-hello?" I stammered slightly. I had not expected my excitement to shake my speech so much.

"You sound like someone I once knew."

Even though I had been anticipating it, the reply took me by such surprise, I felt a surge of blood down in my toes as the animatronic spoke to me in a raspy, somewhat tinny voice. He sounded... annoyed.

I switched off the microphone for a moment, I took another gulp, and I cleared my throat before reactivating my microphone.

"I know who you are." I told him.

"Good for you." He replied coldly. I was mesmerized. I had not known what to expect. His attitude was intriguing. I continued.

"You will find that you cannot escape. I am going to ask you some questions, and if you do not co-operate, then things will not go well for you... Do you understand?" I realized it was important to make sure he knew who was the boss down here.

Springtrap looked up at his wrists. First to his left, then, slowly, he turned his head to his right. He did not struggle. He just turned back to stare at me and replied. "I understand... very well." Something about the way he said "very well" made me uneasy, but I knew I had to avoid letting him get into my head.

I cleared my throat again. "Ahem. Now, tell me... Tell me how it began... what you've done."

"Very well, then. I will start at the beginning."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _As always, please review and let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome, and honest praise is especially welcome! What did you like about it? Are you interested in reading more? The better this is received, the more motivated I am to keep writing! ;)_


	3. To Assert Control

_Author's Note:_

 _So, I begin this chapter with a brief_ further _flashback, and then I resume where Chapter 1 left off._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

"I got your proposal for your thesis, Karl. If it were anyone else, I would ask if they were joking."

"I have a chance to do groundbreaking-"

"I'm sorry, let me speak first, and just listen for a moment, Karl. There is nothing groundbreaking about _paranormal_ research. There is a reason that it is not taken seriously in the scientific community, and it is a good one. It never, _ever_ stands up to scrutiny. Everything is either a hoax, faulty equipment, a baseless myth, or a very poor interpretation of the data."

"Professor, the Freddy Fazbear's-"

"And then there's the fact that you took a pop culture icon from the 2010's as your topic, almost as if you were _trying_ to make sure that no one could take you seriously."

"Professor, please listen-"

"No, **you listen**! … Just for a moment. I will let you speak in a moment. … I am sorry for raising my voice, but I want you to think hard about what you are about to do. This spring, you want us to confer a Master's degree in a scientific field for this work. Consider what that means for _us_ , for our _department_. If we give out a degree for a body of research that earns nothing but ridicule, that _harms_ us. Now, I know that you do not want to harm this department, and I know that you are a very smart student. There are many other topics that are open for research. _Serious_ research. This... is fine for a hobby, but it is not research."

"..."

"You may speak now."

"... Professor, I know this looks bad, but I have done a lot of preliminary research. There are artifacts, recordings... _evidence_. You taught me... well, the whole scientific system taught me... that science is about _evidence_. You get a hypothesis, and you _test_ it. You don't just dismiss an idea out of hand; you examine the _evidence_ , and you _learn_ the _truth_."

"Karl... I know that you mean well. I just... well, let's take a different angle on this. You know how the scientific community feels about this sort of topic."

"Yes."

"So, you understand that the deck is stacked against you. The bar for the amount of evidence you would need to produce in order to be anything but a laughing stock would be... gargantuan."

"Yes."

"I cannot stop you from doing this... if this is what you really want to do, but... I cannot grant you any favors just because you are one of my best students. If you present this to the committee, I cannot pull any punches. If you do this... and it does not completely upturn the field... if your proof does not stand up to the harshest scrutiny... you're not getting a degree... at least not this year, not for this topic. Do you understand, Karl?"

"Yes. Yes, I understand, but I am fully committed to this project."

"... Very well. I just want the best for you, Karl. You have so much potential."

"Thank you, professor."

* * *

"Hm-hmm, I was wondering when you were going to ask me directly."

"I get the impression you don't like kids. So... why a kids' restaurant?"

"Hmph. I started working as an engineer. No one liked to work with me, so I had to go into business for myself. Not being a well-established company, I had to lower my prices, and that's where I met the... 'frugal' folks at Fazbear Entertainment, a group of business owners that recognize the value in cutting costs.

Being just one man, I was affordable to them to be hired as a full-time engineer for their animatronics. I had never planned on working in a children's venue, but... you take the work you can get, right?"

"..."

"I am asking you a question."

"Oh! Uh..."

"I mean, you are here asking me questions. Interviewing me. You _certainly_ made it clear you are in charge, here, but... well... it seems only fair if I can ask you a question or two, as well."

 _Was that sarcasm when he said I was in charge?_ Karl wondered.

"..."

"I may not be able to escape, but if you do not answer me, I might just go back to sleep."

"Wh-what do you want to know?"

"Why are you interviewing me?"

"I'm... trying to learn more about you." _No need to give him more information than he needs._

"… That is not the whole answer. I gave you a story, now I want one, too. What are you trying to accomplish?"

"I told you, I'm trying to learn. That's... it."

"Hmm... by the youth in your voice, I'm guessing... a college student? Could I be your... research? My goodness. How flattering."

 _Okay,_ that _was sarcasm,_ Karl thought.

Springtrap continued:

"So now you are recording this conversation... for your colleagues to review later. What, did they kick you out of the respectable degree programs, forcing you to look into the seedy underbelly of paranormal investigation? Whatever the hell it is you are doing right now was not plan A, was it?"

"..."

"Oh, it _was_? Oh, my... Well, then, let me say something to your fellow paranormal investigators who are likely to hear this. I'll do an impression of an old acquaintance of mine"

Here, Springtrap's voice seemed to shift upward an octave in pitch and take on a somewhat timid quality:

"Hello? Hello-hello? Uh, well, if you're hearing this then chances are you've made a very poor career choice."

His voice returned to its normal, deeper, caustic tone, and he began laughing.

 _Am... am I being mocked by my own prisoner?!_ Karl wondered dumbfounded at how quickly he seemed to have lost control of the situation.

"That's it, Springtrap-"

"WHAT?!" The restraints rattled as Springtrap suddenly jerked in his position. "What did you just call me?"

"... That's it... If you are not going to show me respect, then I am going to end this interview. This night is over."

Karl then switched off his microphone.

 _I'll just let him stew like this until six o'clock... let him wonder if anyone will ever come for him again. I'll keep an eye on him until he shuts down. Then, we'll see if his attitude has improved when he starts back up tomorrow at midnight._

Springtrap chuckled lightly

"Ha... ha ha ha... Rattled you, did I? Hmm... Well, I have all the patience in the world, mister investigator. Something tells me you will be back. And if not, well... someone will. Sooner or later. Until then... pleasant dreams..."

Springtrap's eyes continued to stare straight ahead into the one-way mirror, almost as if he could see Karl. The animatronic never moved. Those eyes never blinked. When the clock finally reached 6:00, they simply shut, and night one was over.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _So, how was that? Any thoughts, feedback? I have ideas outlined for the next couple of chapters, so stay tuned! As before, the reviews, favorites, and follows motivate me to continue, and I greatly appreciate them!_


	4. A Fresh Perspective

_Author's Note:_

 _Here you go, a couple new characters! They're both... technically canonical, but I decided to flesh them out quite a bit more via my OC, Karl. He works so hard to keep up his research._

 _I also work fairly hard to keep up this writing. What do you think of it? What stands out to you? What was your reaction?_

* * *

"Well, I dunno... it burned down. I didn't have anything to do with it."

"I know. The police said that it was faulty wiring."

"Yeah..." Salina sipped her mocha and looked uncomfortably out the window. She took a deep breath through her nose. She then let it out slowly. This topic of conversation made her uncomfortable.

"I... want to thank you again for agreeing to meet with me, Miss Bone."

She chuckled briefly at that. No one called her by her title and surname like that. Everyone always saw a naive young woman when they looked at her. They only ever called her by her first name, if they called her by a name at all. It was awkward, but still, she appreciated the social gesture. This guy was clearly trying to show her more respect than she usually got, and she appreciated that.

"Hmm, we're the same age. You can just call me Salina, please... Mister Hochberg." Salina returned the respectful gesture with a grin and a hint of sarcasm.

"Ha, ha! Okay, I get it. You can just call me Karl." Karl took a deep breath, and was thankful that the awkward tension had started to dissipate. "So... Salina. All there is to know about Fazbear's Fright... is already in the official report. Is that what you're telling me?"

Salina started tapping her foot nervously. She lifted her cup to take another sip of mocha, then thought better of it and set it down. "Ha, yeah, sorry to be a bit of a disappointment, huh?" She forced a light laugh.

Karl knew that Salina was not being forthcoming, but he was pleased that she was not simply leaving. She was still talking with him, which meant that he still had a chance to get the truth, or at least some better clues.

Karl considered his strategy. Much of the Fazbear's Fright surveillance footage had been destroyed in the fire, but what Karl had been able to acquire clearly showed something else was going on. It showed the infamous "Springtrap" moving around on its own and even some strange dark figures that seemed to exist in one frame and then vanish in the next. Karl could confront Salina with proof that she was lying but... he knew that one caught more flies with honey than with vinegar. This source was too important to risk scaring off with too aggressive an approach.

"I see." Karl replied. "I don't know. I guess some things about the report just didn't seem to... add up. You know? I wonder if something else had been going on there."

"Hmm..."

"Yeah, I mean... you know the story about the... children... Right?"

Salina looked away and nodded. She took another sip, nearly finishing the cup. "I've enjoyed mocha since I was little. This coffee shop makes a good cup. Yeah, a pretty good cup of mocha."

"I think that when something that awful happens... there's some kind of bad energy that sticks around... you know?" Honestly, Karl did not have any specific beliefs in karmic energy or curses, but he was open to the idea, if it were supported by the evidence, and he needed Salina to open up to him in order for him to gather that evidence.

"I- I started adding honey to it a-and I think it's even better, though it's probably not as good for me, but then not like mocha is that good for you in the first place, it's just like chocolate and coffee, right? I mean it probably makes you hyper, like it made me hyper as a kid, but then I just played outside a lot and burned off that energy." She drank again, emptying the cup.

"Salina. I think... those children... deserve the truth."

Salina became silent, staring at her now empty cup. She felt a little disappointed that she no longer had this object to use as a prop to avoid this conversation. Karl knew that he might have gone too far with that last statement. He had struck a nerve, but she was being evasive, and he felt it was necessary to say something provocative.

A tear started to well up in Salina's eye. Karl noticed this, but decided to remain silent to await her response. She was still here. She had not left the coffee shop. Karl just needed to let her open up on her own now.

"I-" Salina's voice cracked. "You'll think I'm crazy."

"No... Salina. You're not crazy. You're brave. You're a good woman, and you want to do the right thing. You... don't _have_ to talk to me. I just wanted to know... for their sake."

Salina wiped away a tear. "Oh... okay."

* * *

I had liked horror movies since before my parents even let me watch them. I was so excited to start building up my own budget for them, though. I even entertained ideas of going into film making myself, so when I saw ads for helping build the new "Fazbear's Fright" horror attraction at night over the summer, I jumped at the chance. Not only would I make some extra cash, but I'd also probably gain some experience in set building, effects, and whatever else might help me make my movies.

I don't want to make movies anymore.

The whole production was run by amateurs, it seemed, but that was okay with me. After all, I, myself, was an amateur.

The first night I arrived at the set, I was struck by the outgoing and... "animated" leader of the production. He was so genuinely happy to see a new member of the team.

"He-hey, dude! Glad you could make it! So nice to, uh, have a new team mate, y'know?" For a moment, I wondered why he called me "dude". Did he think I was a boy? I extended my hand to introduce myself and hopefully clear this up.

"Uh, hi! I'm Salina."

The leader shook my hand vigorously "Hey! Awesome, man! I'm Bonnie!"

He was still calling me "man". Did the name "Salina" sound like a boy's name to him? Did my voice sound like a boy's voice? No. I guess he just called everyone "dude" and "man".

Wait, did he just say his name was "Bonnie"?

"Uh, isn't Bonnie a... girl's name?"

"Ha, ha, ha! Yeah! No! It's short for 'Boniface'-" He pronounced his legal name with a pompous-sounding deep French accent while waving his hands in the air briefly, "but everyone just calls me Bonnie, dude! After all, not _every_ one named 'Bonnie' is a girl, _right_?" He said raising an eyebrow and gesturing to a large, purple, creepy bunny suit leaning up against the wall. I stared blankly at it for a moment, wondering what he was getting at. The suit looked fairly new. It had a red bow tie and a plastic fake guitar leaning against its leg.

"Um... okay?"

"Oh, man! Don't tell me you don't know Bonnie the Bunny, dude! Aren't you a Freddy's fan?"

"Um, actually, the Freddy I know best is... um... from Nightmare on Elm Street." What can I say? I have a thing for retro horror. I even found an antique VHS player and some old tapes. Call me a hipster if you want, but there's something awesome about watching that grainy, janky video with the color streaking and tearing. It's a different kind of creepy than we see nowadays... you know? I just wonder what it was like for the people who only had that to watch, before Blu-ray, heck, before even DVD.

"Nightmare on Elm? Huh... never played that one, dude. Is that on Android?" Sometimes I forget that most people aren't into stuff quite that retro.

"Uh... ha, ha. Never mind. No, I, um, not familiar with Freddy Fazbear's, I mean obviously I've heard of it, but... y'know, anyway I'm eager to learn!"

"Oh! Cool! Well, first this is Bonnie. Bonnie, meet Sally-"

"It's Salina-"

"Sally, meet Bonnie!" Boniface gestured to the rabbit. "And other Bonnie!" Boniface gestured to himself. "Hahaha! No, man, I'm just joking! Anyway, yeah, no, so Bonnie's the guitarist, and then here's Chica. She's like... um... the cupcake... dude."

Chica was a yellow bird with a bib reading "LET'S EAT!" It's beak was hanging open and its eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the wall. One of its wings held a platter with a plastic cupcake on it. The cupcake had pink frosting, a single plastic candle sticking out of the top, and creepy-looking googly eyes pasted to one side of it. I wondered if those eyes had been added later as a joke.

Taking on a more sinister tone, Bonnie, the human one, raised his hands, pointing his fingers out and wiggling them in a cliché "spooky" gesture as he continued "And THIS... is FOXY! He's the pirate that, like, BIT some guy's freakin' BRAIN an' stuff!"

Foxy was a red bipedal fox with an eye patch and a hook for a hand.

Bonnie continued, "Aaaand, then we have the ringleader! Bum bada bummm! FRRRREDDY FAAAAZBEEEAAAR!" Bonnie gestured wildly at a large, brown bear wearing a black top hat and bow tie and holding a microphone. "He's, like, the lead singer 'n stuff!"

Bonnie then proudly displayed drawings and various artifacts that he had collected for the attraction. I realized that most attendees would never understand the value of these things the way Bonnie did. He deeply cared about getting genuine articles, but in the dim light of the attraction, no one would be able to tell the difference between genuine artifacts and cheap plastic replicas.

He then spent a few hours telling me, in great detail, all about the origins of the characters, about the different stories that had been told about them. I quickly realized that these were just a random assortment of creepy stories people had made up. They conflicted with one another, and I honestly don't remember most of the details. In some stories, the characters were fun-loving animatronics, in others, they were depraved killers, crushing security guards to death in animatronic suits, and in others, the lost souls of murdered children. It all blurred together.

I tried not to be too obvious about checking my watch. I was starting to get a little bored listening to all these stories, and I started to wish that I was working for a slightly more professional group. I didn't want to offend Bonnie by asking him to stop talking; he was clearly enjoying talking about these characters.

I left a little disappointed that my first night was spent just listening to him ramble, but I had to admit, some of the stories _were_ pretty interesting. I thought about how I might use some of them for inspiration for my own stories in the future. The place was filled with collections of suits, masks, and props that had been either built for this attraction or, more commonly, had been built years ago as part of the Freddy Fazbear's craze that swept the nation back in the 2010's. A few of them looked even older, though, and I wondered how much of that was genuine. Probably not much.

"Oh, um, yeah, so dude! We kinda ran outta time tonight, but, like, can you show up at midnight tomorrow? Imma like need you to keep an eye on stuff from like midnight to six AM, alright?"

"Wow, graveyard shift?" This was going to be more uncomfortable than I had anticipated.

"WHOAH DUDE! I hadn't thought of that! Yeah, creepy name, huh? Wonder why they call it that! But hey, that's nice for a horror attraction, right?"

I wasn't sure whether this guy was high, had just burned out his brain cells from having spent too much time _being_ high, or if he were just naturally a little... flaky. I had a weird feeling about him, but I decided to put it aside to keep coming.

As it turned out. I had nothing to worry about... from Bonnie. He was harmless. Honestly, I have to be grateful to him for having provided me some information that helped me the rest of the week.

I came in the next night at midnight. It was a little creepy being there all by myself, but it was nice to get a phone call from Bonnie.

"Hey-hey! Glad you came back for another night!" What a thing to say. Did this guy lose a lot of folks after the first night just because of his... personality? I felt a little sorry for him.

He continued: "I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time! We found some...some great new relics over the weekend, and we're out tracking a new lead right now! So, uh, let me just update you real quick and you can get to work. Like, the attraction opens in, like, a week, so we have to make sure everything works, and nothing catches on fire!" I rolled my eyes and muttered "har har har".

"Uh, when the place opens people will come in from the opposite end of the building, and work their way toward you and _past_ you, and out the exit. Uh, yeah you've officially become part of the attraction! You'll be starring as... the security guard!" I laughed to myself. If I didn't already know this guy were incapable of clever manipulation, I would think that he were trying to take a crappy security guard job and just "jazz" it up to make it sound like some sort of character gig.

"So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, you know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner," Oh, jeez, I thought to myself. Are people really going to be doing that? Ugh.

"But you'll also be a part of the show! It'll make it feel really authentic, I think. Uh, now let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think could be _authentic!_ Then again it might just be another crappy cosplay. And we found a desk fan, very old-school, metal though, so watch the fingers." No. No, I will not be sticking my fingers into a fan. Bonnie looked like he might have been five years older than me, but he acted like a little kid sometimes. I guess it was a bit charming and funny sometimes.

"Uh, heh, uh...right now the place is basically just, you know, flashing lights and spooky props. Uh, I honestly thought we'd have more by now. Uh, if we don't have something really cool by next week, we may have to suit you up in a furry suit and make you walk around saying 'boo!', heh heh." Well, that might not be so bad, I thought. I could work on some better dialogue than "boo", of course, and maybe I could throw out some ideas to him to make it more entertaining. I might get some good experience here after all.

"Bu- But, you know, like I said, we're trying to track down a good lead right now. Uh, some guy who helped design one of the buildings, says there was, like, an extra room that got boarded up, or somethin' like that. So, we're gonna take a peak and see what we can find. Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new set up, um, you can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams...uh, then over to your far left, you can flip up your maintenance panel! Uh, y'know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline." Rebooting systems that go offline? I remember my dad telling me about having to do that to old computers back in the day, back when people had to "defrag" "hard disk drives" and whatever, but no modern system worked like that anymore. Bonnie quickly answered this confusion.

"Heh, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, heh heh. Some of this equipment is barely functional. I wasn't joking about the fire, that's- that's a real risk." Facepalm. I groaned. Maybe working for amateurs was _not_ as good an idea as I originally thought.

"Uh, the most important thing you'll want to watch for is the ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seein' some crazy stuff, man! Keep that air flowin'!" I rolled my eyes again. Bonnie was a nice guy, but I was pretty sure that the only person "seeing crazy stuff" here was him, and only because of his own "self-medication".

"Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have somethin' new for you tomorrow night."

I had a fairly good time that first night just wandering through the halls, checking the different little props, brainstorming, reading, and just killing time. Even so, I thought about quitting. However, I ultimately decided that, even if this wasn't the _best_ experience, I could still use the pay, and maybe something interesting would come of it eventually. Sometimes I wish I had quit right then.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _So now we're starting another new perspective! We will get back to Springtrap's perspective next time. I felt this one was necessary to give Karl a broader view of everything. What do you think? Reviews are very welcome motivators! What do you think of Salina and Bonnie? Thanks for reading!_


	5. Everyone Needs a Hobby

_Author's Note:_

 _Thank you so much for the views, favorites, and follows! I assume that means you like the way this is going, so far, and you want to see more! I would love to see more reviews, though. I would love to read some specifics! What did you like? What could I improve?_

 _You may have noticed that I change perspectives a lot. I realize that this is unusual, but this is a conscious choice. Between chapters and sections of chapters, I like to give the readers a broader perspective, sometimes jumping from inside one character's mind to another._

 _I hope you like this one!_

 _Also, by the way, I know that there is talk of a Five Nights at Freddy's 4 game. I am not sure how long it will take me to finish this story or how much additional "official" lore will be released in the meantime. I have a basic idea for the whole plot of this story in my mind already, and I will base this story on my own interpretation of the events of Five Nights at Freddy's through Five Nights at Freddy's 3, tweaking details here and there as I see fit. I do not plan to incorporate anything newer into the story as it comes out, just so you know._

* * *

"I really want to hear more, Salina, but it's getting late. Can we meet up again tomorrow?"

"Oh... oh, yeah, sure! I don't know where the time went. I guess you're not much of a night owl, huh? Ha, ha."

"Yeah, well, it's more like I have a... night job, myself. I have somewhere I need to be by midnight, and it's out of town a little ways."

"Oh? Huh. Most rural places close down at night. What brings you out of town at midnight?"

"Hah. Uh... you know what? That's probably best left as a conversation for another time. I do have to get going." _She might not believe me if I told her. If she did believe me... she might not like it._

"Oh. Okay."

Karl quickly hopped back in his car to begin the drive out to the bunker.

* * *

Getting back into the elevator, Karl checked his phone. It was 11:53. Karl breathed a sigh of relief. He had plenty of time to check on Springtrap and to get settled in before he... woke up again.

Karl arrived at the observation room and thought to himself: _Hmm, I still have a couple of minutes. Let me take a quick look._

Karl opened the chamber and examined the restrained animatronic beast. The chamber still had that rancid smell, and the animatronic was perfectly lifeless. Karl walked toward the thing and heard a jingling sound he had not expected. His heart jumped.

He let out a sigh of relief realizing that it had only been his badge, a metal and plastic key card bearing Karl's name and picture, hanging from a lanyard around his neck. It had bumped against the tray holding Springtrap's hand-crank as Karl leaned in.

This badge granted Karl access to his professor's lab, where Karl had already put in a full day's work analyzing biological samples. He had just conducted an interview for his research project, and now, here he was getting ready to conduct another interview. He no longer needed the cumbersome badge dangling around his neck, and it was going to be a long night. Karl took off the lanyard and laid it on the tray. Karl wondered momentarily how long he might be able to keep up this pace, only getting a couple of hours of sleep each night, but decided not to dwell on that. All of this work needed to be done. The work at the lab paid for Karl's room and board, and the interviews were critical to the most important work of Karl's life. No, all this had to happen, and Karl would just have to deal with it.

He then leaned in close to Springtrap. His eyes were closed, and no sound came from him at all. He was as dead now as one would expect something like him to be. It was hard to believe that he would come to life with a mind so full of evil in a mere... how long did he have?

Karl checked his phone again.

11:59

 _SHIT!_

Karl bolted out of the room, locking the chamber behind him and then jogging over to the observation console, his heart beating heavily. Looking through the window, Karl saw Springtrap's eyes already open. Karl had barely made it out before Springtrap woke up.

 _Wait, what am I afraid of?_ Karl thought. _It's not like he can move out of those restraints... Still, I would just rather not he see me... or be in the same room as me while he's awake._

Karl stared back at Springtrap for a minute, considering what he would say before he began speaking. After what happened last time, it was important to make sure that Springtrap knew that Karl was in charge.

 _Hmm... Oh, yeah! He didn't like it when I called him "Springtrap"_. Karl recalled. _I'll show him that I can do whatever I want, here._

Karl cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and turned on his microphone.

"Good morning... _Springtrap._ "

Springtrap did not appear rattled this time. He simply replied:

"Good morning... _Karl Hochberg._ "

Karl's heart caught in his throat, and he immediately switched off the mic as he gasped.

 _What is going on?! How does he know my name? Can he read minds?_

Karl's hand was shaking as he flipped the mic back on to reply:

"How do you know... that name?"

Springtrap laughed and continued: "Oh, let us see... employee number four six seven... hmm... I cannot read the rest from here; the lanyard is in the way."

 _FUCK! Not only did I leave my badge where Springtrap could see it, but now I made myself look stupid in front of him again!_

Springtrap continued: "Oh, do not worry about it. We both said some hurtful things. Let us move on. What questions do you have for me, today?"

Karl could not stand how smug Springtrap seemed to be, but Karl had to agree. It was likely best to just get back to the interview.

"Alright then. Uhm. So, you still haven't told me about how you started killing... _at the pizzeria._ "

"Ah, yes, well, one does need a hobby."

* * *

I had been working for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza for a little while. I was familiar with their systems, and they made their request of me: I was to produce animatronics for them to use to entertain the children. The idea would be that the maintenance of these robots would be less expensive than hiring people. If I were successful, they could fire most of the entertainment staff.

They already had a brown bear, a yellow bear, and a... yellow rabbit... They also had a puppet that would pop out of a box in the prize corner, much like a Jack-in-the-box toy. It was supposed to be fun and silly, but it actually had more of a tendency to scare them than anything else.

I was still required to wear a "costume" of my own. A uniform, actually. A purple shirt and slacks with the "Fazbear Entertainment" logo on it.

About a month into my development, however, they changed the requirements on me. They decided, with only two weeks left before the contract's deadline, that they were not confident enough to go straight to full animatronics right from costumes. They wanted to have some sort of... hybrid machine that they could use as either a robot _or_ a suit, as they saw appropriate. Such a thing was pretty much unheard of, and they showed no respect for all of the time and effort I had already put into designing, testing, and building preliminary pieces of the animatronics. They did not even extend their deadlines to accommodate this sudden change in requirements. I was understandably... perturbed.

Even so, I made haste to meet my employer's demands. I just had to cut a few corners. I kept most of my existing design, but made a few tweaks to make it slightly more compact, sacrificing stability where necessary, and then added gears and springs to allow the internal mechanisms to be retracted into the outer parts of the suit component, allowing room for a man of... moderate build to be inside. Certainly, it was not the most secure piece of machinery into which to fit one's body, but, well, if they really cared about safety, they should not have changed the requirements of my project at the last moment.

One evening, as I approached the restaurant, I saw a boy standing outside a side window in the alley beside the restaurant, hiding just out of view, weeping. He was not visible from within the restaurant or from the street. I only saw him because I was about to enter through the service entrance. The child was peering through the window at a birthday party occurring inside. His sobbing was becoming quite annoying, and I was determined to put a stop to it before I got back to work.

"What are you crying about?"

"Th-they, *sniff* wouldn't l-let me-"

I felt myself grinding my teeth listening to the way the little urchin's crying caused him to stammer. It was disgusting.

"w-wouldn't l-let me in the p-party!" The child resumed wailing, his fists clenched in tight balls.

"Why do you want to be in the party so much?"

"I j-just wanted a p-piece of cake!"

"Well, then why are you just standing out here bawling? Why not just go in there and take it?!"

There is absolutely no sense crying about something if you are unwilling to do anything about it. The child did not answer my question; he merely resumed wailing helplessly. It was infuriating. The child would neither fight for what he wanted nor go and find something else. He just insisted on crying and begging, as if it were the responsibility of everyone else to just give him things because he cried for them. What arrogant parasitism!

I had had enough. I had had a rough week. I had had enough of this boy's ear-piercing sobbing. I was sick and tired, and I was going to do something nice and fun for myself for a change. I pulled the boy by the arm a little further aside, just a bit further out of view, telling him: "Well, I might have something for you, here."

Looking to me with curiosity and excitement, his eyes widened. I grinned, and pulled a bright, shining switchblade from my back pocket, showing it to him. His expression shifted from excitement to nervousness. He asked me: "Is... is that a... gift?"

A gift, he asked me. The little parasite thought only of taking things without earning them. I was going to enjoy this.

"Sure, it is!" I said sarcastically. I then shoved that knife straight into the boy's throat, all the way to the hilt, cutting off his air supply. He couldn't scream, but his eyes looked back at me in horror as I grinned in decadent satisfaction. I much preferred this softer, gurgling sound to the previous wailing. His little body started thrashing weakly, but I held him down. He started reaching for the knife in his throat, but I stopped him. I just stared back into his eyes, smiling, as he lost blood and oxygen. I decided to reply.

"That shut your damn mouth, I see. Well, I guess we have learned a lesson about bothering other people instead of taking what you want, have we not? Oh? What is that you are trying to say? You want the knife _out_ of your throat? Well, okay, then! I will take it back if you wish. It is, after all, _my_ knife, so I am not letting _you_ keep it, you little wretch!"

I then tore the knife out of his throat sideways, ripping right through his trachea and carotid artery. He went limp almost immediately.

I felt amazing. It had been a long time since I had killed anyone, and I just cannot tell you what a pick-me-up it is! Why, I felt on top of the world. Now, the deadlines and other pains of my job did not seem so bad. As long as I could make the world a little better place by ridding it of one more bastard child, then I could move on with my head held high!

I caught my breath after that intense rush and took a look at my situation. I had blood on my purple shirt and on my knife, and, of course, there was the body with which to concern myself. I was not interested in obsessing over my cover-up, however. Rather, I decided to simply chuck the body into the dumpster out back and put the knife back into my pocket. I then walked in the back entrance into the kitchen. Before anyone had even noticed me, I grabbed a pot of pizza sauce and tumbled straight to the floor.

"WHOAH!" I yelled out as I pitched myself forward, making sure to pull the pot with me.

One of the chefs reached over to help me up. I pushed her hand away as I stood up on my own.

"My shirt is ruined! Keep this damned floor clean! I could have hurt myself!" I shouted out as I stormed off to the back room with the robotic parts, my purple uniform now covered in blood _and_ pizza sauce, but honestly, it was more pizza sauce by that time.

Once in my office, I locked the door, and set off to the steam cleaner. I pulled my knife out and placed it in a clamp under the cleaner. I then engaged the cleaner at high pressure. It blasted every trace of bio-material right off the knife with boiling hot water. In seconds, the knife was as clean as when I first bought it. This machine was good for cleaning off grease and impurities from the surface of old parts, and it now proved even more useful to me.

I laughed at how easy it had been. I resumed work on my machines. That had been a good day, indeed. I had found new inspiration.

The next day, the police came, we all heard about the horrible crime that had occurred just outside our own walls. I explained that, when I arrived, I had seen nothing. No one else had seen anything either.

That was also the day that I met Leonard, head of security for Fazbear Entertainment.

He was a scrawny little thing, not entirely unlike you, Karl, judging by your ID photo. Leonard looked like he was barely in his twenties, but somehow he had acquired this position in charge of security at the corporate level. I wondered if he were older than he looked, or if Fazbear Entertainment was just cutting costs by hiring him right out of college instead of getting anyone with experience. The answer was immediately obvious to me as soon as I thought of it that way.

"Uh, hello! Gosh, uh, so sorry to meet under these terrible circumstances. You know?"

"Yes." I replied, waiting to see what Leonard was getting at.

"Well, uh, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza really wants to assure you that, while we fully support complying with law enforcement to the extent legally required, any information not under subpoena is not required to be shared... with anyone. Please refrain from discussing this with the media, insurance representatives, or anyone else, except as required by law, okay? Fazbear Entertainment denies any involvement-"

I started tuning out the little tool. His official title was head of security, but he really seemed more like a mouthpiece for the legal department.

"-blah, blah, blah, negligence, blah, blah, customer experience, blah, blah. Does that make sense?"

I turned back to him when I realized that he was asking me a question. It was a bit strange trying to read him. The words he used were cold and full of legal jargon, but his demeanor and tone sounded like someone who was genuinely concerned.

"Yes. Yes, it does make sense." I replied.

"Oh! Okay, great, then! So, I'm sorry, I know it's tough in the face of a tragedy like this but, just remember, _you_ are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, so... remember to smile!"

I grinned back at him, and he left.

I realized that he was an idealistic young man who had been tempted by Fazbear Entertainment offering him a lofty title, even though it came with a pittance of a salary most likely. They probably fed him all sorts of lines about how protecting the company was good for everyone, would help him "grow with the company" and he bought it hook, line, and sinker. I disliked him already.

* * *

I arrived to help you, Mark. Your body was already in the dumpster, but you remained there in front of the window. I took the form of a young woman bearing a warm coat.

"Let us go, Mark."

"Where?" you asked me. Your heart was full of rage and sorrow.

"Away. Away from here. It is time to rest."

"WHY?!" You shouted back at me. "Why did he DO THIS TO ME?!"

"I cannot answer that, but there is nothing that you can do."

But then, the dark shade appeared once more.

 _Oh, stop lying to the boy, Death! I think people have lied to him enough._

"Come with me, Mark."

 _You want to die, Mark?_

"NO!" you shouted.

"It is too late," I responded. "You are already dead, but it will be alright. You have earned comfort and rest. Here, put on this coat."

I could see your soul growing darker. I tried to save you.

 _Are you going to let him just get away with that?_

"NOO!" you screamed, your soul darkening further.

"Please, Mark. Do not give into hatred. If you come with me, you will be able to rest... in peace. But if you go down the other path, then I cannot help you. The pain will be tremendous, and there will be no rest."

 _Someone should listen to YOU for a change, Mark. What do YOU want more than anything else?_

"RRRHHHHAAAAA! KILL THE PURPLE GUY!"

 _Ha, ha. Sorry, Death, but it looks like he's MINE, now._

 _I think I have just the thing for you. A nice, new body. It will not be quite like your old body, but it will be something you can use. It will be more like... a puppet... that you can manipulate to do what you need. Yes. You will be the harbinger of revenge, and your body will be suitable for that purpose._

You refused me entirely. I am so sorry, Mark. I wish that I could have done more for you. I wish that you had let me help you.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Well? How are you enjoying the story so far? Please review and let me know, or send me a PM, if you choose! What are your thoughts? What specific things did you like? What things do you think I could improve going forward?_


	6. I Want to Play

_Author's Note:_

 _Hey! Glad you came back for another night! ;)_

 _I meant to mention this before, but I decided to name the murderer "Vincent" after the name a number of fans have given him. As far as I can tell, this name has no basis in anything canon, but I felt like making that small nod to the fans. :)_

 _Speaking of the fans, one of the things that I feel makes Five Nights at Freddy's such good fodder for fan fiction is the degree to which things are left to the audience to figure out, the amount of mystery mixed in. That said, I have watched all three games, and I have read several fan theories out there. However, I found inconsistencies in all of them. I spent_ hours _trying to figure out a theory that matched everything canonical and matched it_ well _, and I honestly could not think of one... so I made one up!_

 _This means that_ some _of the things I write_ will _conflict with certain details from the games. My goal was to create a story that was consistent_ within itself _that tells the_ important _parts of the story I want to share, and that sticks to the canon most of the time, you know, where I can._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

The smell of stale pizza... and blood.

The console was being temperamental, slow to respond, impossible to read.

Outside the window, a torrential downpour, a clap of thunder... and a heavy metal hook suddenly pounding against the door, a sharp scream and the impossibly firm hold of a hydraulic press crushing his body.

* * *

Karl awoke from his nightmare. He was surprised that he could even dream after only a couple of hours of sleep. He stumbled out of the twin-size bed in his studio apartment and slipped on a shirt, pants, and a lab coat. He then grabbed his badge from the nightstand and slipped it back over his neck.

He took another look at it, considering how he had let Springtrap see it, wondering if there were any other pieces of personal information that he had inadvertently leaked. At least all the badge gave Springtrap were Karl's name and picture. He tried to remind himself that Springtrap was not a threat bolted to the wall in a concrete bunker, but it still made Karl feel uneasy.

* * *

"Jeez, Karl, you look like crap, buddy." Dave, one of Karl's co-workers, teased him with a grin. "Have you been trying to have a _life_? You know that's not allowed for grad students, right? Ha, ha, ha!"

"Yeah, who knows?" Tammy, another co-worker, chimed in, "You might end up deciding that you're too good to use your degree for tedious grunt labor!" The other lab workers shared a brief laugh.

Karl grinned weakly and resumed his work. He was measuring the limbs of crickets that had undergone some sort of experimentation, and then taking them apart with forceps to examine the internal organs with a magnifying lens to check for abnormalities. This might be slightly less mind-numbing if Karl even knew what he was testing for, but this was some sort of blind testing. They didn't want any of the measurements to be tainted by the expectation of specific results, hence underpaid, uninformed grad students were used for the work.

 _Not much more of this_. Karl thought to himself. _Once I present my paper and get my master's degree, I will be pushing the state of science to a new level. I'll publish books, I'll get my doctorate next... everything will be different._

"KARL!" Dave called out.

"Huh?!"

"You've been holding that one sample for five minutes."

"Oh? Oh... right. I guess I... spaced out there for a minute."

"Ha, ha! No worries, man! Just put it back in the dish for now, anyway, it's time to go. Lab's closing."

"It is?" Karl looked at the clock and saw that it was 6:00 PM already.

"Yeah. A little advice? Go home and get some sleep, buddy. You look like you could use it."

"OH, no, um... I have to meet Salina."

"Oooh! Well, be careful your hot date doesn't wear you out _too_ bad! The professor still expects you to get _some_ work done, y'know?"

"Ah, no, it's... not like that. It's for research."

"Suuuure, buddy. _That's_ what the kids are calling it nowadays."

Karl grunted and headed out the door.

* * *

Karl arrived at the coffee shop and ordered a Swiss mocha. What Salina had told him about them earlier got him thinking about giving it a try for helping him keep awake.

Salina waved to him "Hi! I saved us a seat!"

Karl smiled back warmly. He was looking forward to speaking with Salina. She was pleasant, and to him, she represented a glimpse into his future, an invaluable resource to bolster his groundbreaking research.

"Thanks, Salina. I decided to give that mocha a try."

"It's nice, right?"

It was sweet, and the smell was lovely. Karl was pleased to see how much more relaxed and open Salina seemed today than she seemed yesterday. Karl guessed that she decided that she could trust him, and he felt proud of himself for having been able to instill that feeling in her.

"Mmm, yeah. Lovely! So... tell me what happened at Fazbear's Fright."

"Well, I guess part of what I should tell you is something that... didn't happen... _at_ Fazbear's Fright.

I got home around 6:30 the morning after my first night. I tried to get a few chores done, but I was really tired, so I went to bed.

That night, I had a dream. I dreamt about Freddy Fazbear's pizza. It was weird. I mean, I guess it's not weird to dream about a thing you've just been thinking about all night, but... I dunno, it _felt_... weird. There was something different about it. It felt... _real_. I mean, I guess dreams _usually_ feel real when you're in them but... I'm sorry, I sound crazy, don't I?"

"No, Salina. Just take your time and tell me what happened."

Salina took a deep breath and sighed.

"Okay... It was like I _was_ Freddy, back at the original Freddy's pizza place..."

* * *

Another Freddy appeared and told me to follow him, but I was afraid, something felt very wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I moved away, down a nearby corridor.

I saw a bright red balloon. As I stared at it, I noticed that it was being held by a shadowy figure, a small, round figure, like a child, but I couldn't see the face or any details. The next thing I remember was a series of lights, in corners... it's hard to describe. Top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right. That sequence. Then the balloon again, the figure holding it was crying, screaming, begging, "Please! PLEASE! I only wanted some cake! It's not FAAAAIR!" That appeared in my face over and over, and then I was Freddy again.

I followed that... _other_ Freddy, and... and then I couldn't anymore. He... there was this... purple guy, and, well... he killed me. It was a pretty bad nightmare, to be honest.

The whole next day, I kept thinking about that... that balloon, those lights. I found myself tapping out that pattern, top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right, with my fingers on my desk, just pretty much whenever I wasn't thinking about it. I found myself doodling backwards N's in the margins of my paper by drawing from top left, to bottom left, to top right, to bottom right. I wondered why something like that had shown up in my dream, but then I just brushed it off.

I came in to Fazbear's Fright around 11:30 at night. As expected, Bonnie and the others had already left for the night, but he had left me a message to play when I got in.

I figured I would start playing it, but it appeared to be on a timer, and it wasn't going to play for me until the clock reached midnight. I decided not to worry about it. I had gotten there early because I wanted to look around for a bit longer, anyway. I had remembered seeing some old arcade cabinets. I wasn't sure how many of them actually worked, or if any of them were just old and broken, or if some of them were just props, set up to look like creepy arcade cabinets, flickering and flashing just for the creepy effect.

I saw one with a bright red balloon on it. It was just like in the dream. It was rigged to always show one credit inserted, so I didn't have to put in a quarter or anything, but it seemed to be malfunctioning. The script on the cabinet was so worn and faded it was illegible, and the screen itself just flashed random letters, numerals, and other weird computer symbols.

It had a set of four buttons arranged in a square on the console, and a joystick. I tried moving the stick around and mashing the buttons, but nothing happened... until I tried pressing the buttons in the specific order: top left, bottom left, top right, and bottom right. All of a sudden, the glitched-up screen became clear. I saw a white fox-head hovering over a floor. The game looked like an old platformer from the 1970's. At the top of the screen read the words: "MANGLE'S QUEST". "Mangle?" I thought to myself. What a weird name... and then I remembered something Bonnie had told me.

Apparently, in one of the stories, they tried to make a more kid-friendly version of the Foxy pirate, making it white and pink, and putting it with the younger children, who would always tear it apart and fail at putting it back together properly. I couldn't remember if this was a _true_ story, or one of the creepy bits of fan lore, but it seemed realistic enough to be true.

There are actually a lot of things that are true that _don't_ seem realistic enough, though... Actually, never mind that. Let me just tell you what I saw.

I hopped around the little game level putting pieces back onto the... Mangle that I was controlling, avoiding the hyperactive little child character, which was running back and forth, threatening to take me back apart. I got all of the pieces, but I messed up trying to get to the game's exit. I glitched through one of the walls, and I saw my Mangle falling down outside of the game world. I thought perhaps I had crashed it or that I would have to unplug and re-plug the cabinet in order to try again, but something very unexpected happened then.

I... "landed" at another level, but it looked like some sort of glitch. I wondered if it had been some sort of mess of unused code that somehow coalesced into a halfway playable level. I didn't understand how something like that would work, but... stranger things have happened, I suppose.

I saw a large figure that seemed to be frozen in a state of weeping. What could that mean? If this were just a bunch of unused code, why would something like that have been programmed, added to the game's assets in the first place?

I found that I was still able to move. I pushed onward, and found a set of platforms to jump across. They looked like bright red balloons. I was getting quite a creepy feeling in the back of my neck. I jumped up along this set of platforms, and at the end... cake. There was a big, three-tiered birthday cake with candles at the top.

I remembered the screaming child from my dream begging for cake. I jumped for the cake, and the game crashed. The screen froze, and none of the buttons did anything. I wasn't sure what had just happened, but I couldn't help but feel somehow... relieved. I wasn't even sure why.

At this point, it was just about midnight, so I got back to the security office. I listened to Bonnie's recording start while I idly examined some of the old masks and animatronic heads that were piled in a bucket near the door of the control chamber. I smiled at the sound of Bonnie's cheerful voice again.

"Hey, man- okay, I have some awesome news for you!" I grinned. It was nice to hear the excitement, and I wanted to hear what Bonnie was referring to.

"First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, _prehistoric_! I think they were, like, training tapes for like, other employees or something like that. So, I thought we could, like, have them _playing_ , like, over the _speakers_ as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that makes this feel _legit_ , man."

I had to agree. That _did_ sound pretty awesome! This might actually help add to the realism even more than genuine visible artifacts. I was fascinated and ready to hear these.

"But I have an even better surprise for you, and you're not gonna believe this- we found one. A _REAL_ one!"

Wait, what? A real _what?_ I wondered.

"Uh-oh-uh gotta go man- uh, well-well look, i-it's in there somewhere, I'm-I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found! Talk to you later, man!"

I decided at that point to start looking around the office while I continued listening to this first training cassette. Was the "real one", whatever it was, in here, somewhere?

"Uh, hello! Hello, hello!"

This new voice sounded younger, but I realized that voices can be deceiving. Anyway, I couldn't find anything new or out of the ordinary in or just outside of the security office, so I started flipping through the cameras on the console.

"Uh, welcome to your new career as a performer-slash-entertainer for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, these tapes will provide you with much needed information on how to handle-slash-climb into-slash-climb out of mascot costumes."

Yup, sounded just like an old training tape. Very scripted and stilted. I wondered if they were going to get to food preparation. That might be kinda funny, hearing their internal food processes. Nothing on the first couple of cameras I checked. I moved on.

"Right now, we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronics and suits. So please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits as accidents-slash-injuries-"

At that moment, I gasped as I felt quite sure I had just found the "real one". It was on one of the camera feeds, standing in one of the hallways on the north side of the building. It was a bit like Bonnie (the giant bunny, not the person), but instead of purple, it was a sickly yellow. It looked quite ravaged by time. Perhaps Bonnie was right. Perhaps this _was_ a _real_ animatronic that had been used in one of the actual restaurants.

"-slash-death, slash-irreparable and grotesque maiming can occur."

Slash _what?!_ Okay, maybe Bonnie is pulling my leg... or maybe someone is pulling his. This is starting to sound like a joke. But... I couldn't help but stare at this yellow bunny while the guy on the phone described the horrors that can occur if the suit is used incorrectly. The thing was stained and beaten up, but it was standing on its own. I wondered how functional it still was.

I started to switch cameras. I hadn't really become super-familiar with them, yet, and I was trying to see if I could get a better angle on the new animatronic. To my disappointment, I found that the cameras all seemed to cover entirely different spots of the attraction; there wasn't any overlap. I sighed. I supposed that was efficient; they wouldn't want to waste money putting up cameras where they already had vision.

I continued listening to the recording:

"First we'll discuss how to operate the mascots while in animatronic form. For ease of operation, the animatronics are set to turn and walk towards sounds they hear which is an easy and hands-free approach to making sure the animatronics stay where the children are for maximum entertainment-slash-crowd-pleasing value."

At this point, I decided that I would go out of the office as soon as the recording was done to take a look in person, so I tuned back to the camera where I had found the yellow bunny.

It was gone.

A shiver ran down my spine. Where was it?! It had just been there a moment ago. Was I looking at the wrong camera? No... I remember it standing in that hallway. It was... right... there. I started flipping to different cameras while the recording continued.

"To change the animatronics to suit mode, insert and turn firmly the hand crank provided by the manufacturer. Turning the crank will recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the suit, providing room to climb inside. Please make sure the spring-locks are fastened tight to ensure the animatronic devices remain safe. We will cover this in more detail in tomorrow's session. Remember to smile; you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

I finally turned to a camera on the west side of the building, and I felt my heart thumping hard in my chest. The yellow bunny was staring straight into the camera, mere inches away. What was it doing? It was just a robot, just a machine. It couldn't possibly know what was going on.

Next, the camera feed was overcome with static, and when it cleared, the thing was gone _again_. Without meaning to, I started breathing heavily, my hand started twitching as I attempted to flip through the cameras to find the yellow bunny again.

I saw it on the east side of the attraction this time, just a few feet from the hallway right in front of me.

I decided I no longer wanted to see this thing up close. I was panting, sweating, gasping. I couldn't get enough air. What was happening? It was creepy, but it shouldn't have been making me panic so badly that I started to hyperventilate. I shut my eyes tight, and took the deepest breaths I could, but it was like being... underwater. I don't know how to explain it well. My chest wouldn't fill with air. Or rather, when it _was_ full, I still needed more.

I was startled as red lights started flashing and warning horns started sounding in the office. I finally remembered what Bonnie had said about the ventilation system. I felt myself starting to black out, but I reached over for the console to operate the systems. Each system name appeared in green letters, with "ventilation" followed by a flashing red "error" indicator.

audio devices

camera system

ventilation _error_

Of course! Bonnie had warned me that the ventilation was bad; I had to reboot the system. A few seconds after I initiated the reboot command, I could hear the fans switching on, the vents pumping vital oxygen through that awful room again. I took a deep breath, and I was able to start to calm down. Then I looked up and saw the yellow bunny just outside my door... staring back at me with unblinking eyes.

I froze. I held my breath, even despite how desperate I was to get air back in my lungs after that last episode. I felt a tear welling up in my eye. Before, I was hyperventilating because the ventilation system had failed. Now, I was _really_ panicking. I didn't even know why I was so terrified of this thing. Surely, a device built to entertain children would never hurt me, but I shuddered, I whimpered, and I just prayed that it would go away. I could just... _sense_ something horrible about it.

Just then, I heard a _different_ kind of alarm from the last one. It startled me and I yelped, but then I recognized it as the alarm clock set for 6:00 AM. I turned to the clock. Sure enough, it was six, my shift was supposed to be over, I turned back to the doorway, and the yellow bunny had slumped back against the wall, its eyes closed. I took that opportunity, and I tore out of there as fast as I could.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _So! What do you think?_

 _I hope that I am living up to the atmosphere of the games. I hope that you are having fun! There is definitely more to come, and I look forward to reading your reviews!_


	7. Sleight of Hand

_Author's Note:_

 _I said this before, but it bears repeating now:_

 _I came up with the concept and started writing this after Five Nights at Freddy's 3 was released, but before Five Nights at Freddy's 4 was released, and I have no intention of changing the story mid-stream, as it were. Whatever revelations there are in Five Nights at Freddy's 4 have nothing to do with this story._

 _I have resumed beta-reading for one of my favorite authors on FFN, since they finally got a slew of new chapters finished. This may affect the speed at which I can finish these chapters, but if you leave reviews reminding me that you are reading and want to see more, that will help remind me to get to this whenever I find the free time! I especially like reading about the specifics that stood out to you, what your thoughts are on different parts._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 _Sleight of Hand_

"I took that opportunity, and I tore out of there as fast as I could."

Karl was absorbed in this story. Knowing what he did about Springtrap, Karl realized that it had likely only been by a slim margin that Salina had gotten through that second night with her life.

"My god, Salina... that sounds like it was a really scary-" *beep* *beep* *beep*

Karl was interrupted by his phone's alarm.

"Um... I'm... sorry, I have to- uh, I really want to hear the rest, but-" 

"No, I understand, I don't want you to be late for work. I'll see you here tomorrow?"

"Yeah! Thanks, Salina!"

"Take care, Karl!"

Karl drove out to the bunker, thinking about Salina's experience and pondering what was going on in Springtrap's mind when that happened. Should Karl ask Springtrap about that incident?

No, Karl decided. Not yet, anyway. It might be best not to reveal that he knows something about Springtrap's activities at Fazbear's Fright until later.

Karl got down into the control room on time this time, and took a careful look into the observation chamber. Springtrap was still asleep, of course; that was good. Karl looked at the tray holding the hand-crank and was pleased to see that he had not left anything else there. He looked around at the other surfaces. Okay, this all looked good. Time for another night of listening to this psychopath. Well, at least it was filling in the gaps in Karl's understanding of the events.

12:00 AM

"Good morning." Karl spoke into the microphone.

"Likewise," Springtrap replied with an oddly cheerful tone. "did you have a nice night?"

Karl wondered if Springtrap was being sarcastic again. Probably so, Karl concluded, but best to just move on and stop bothering with trying to establish dominance or to agitate the killer.

"Sure. So, let's get back to what you were doing at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

"Right. Well, as I was saying, I had just met Leonard Hawkins, the worm Fazbear Entertainment had duped into accepting the role of 'head of security'. He was telling us all to keep our mouths shut after the horrible murder that had occurred just outside the restaurant..."

* * *

"Oh, one other thing before I go, uh..." Leonard paused pointing his finger at me.

"Vincent Blakeslee", I replied.

"Vincent! Right, so, you're the tech guy around here, right?"

"I am."

"Great! Could you take a look at pulling the security camera footage? I'm not really sure how it's all stored back there. Our regular security guard for this location just quit, and we're getting a temp agency to fill the role for now, but... the stuff back there is pretty complicated, so..."

"It will not be a problem." I told him. "I will take a look at what we have, to see if we can find the killer on there. I can turn it over to the police-"

"Oh, no! Um, n- uh, we-we have a policy at Fazbear Entertainment, um... we need to have the legal department look over any materials before distributing outside of the organization, you know, so it's properly labeled and recorded with backup copies and whatnot, so just... yeah, get that to me first, if you can?"

"Right. I will take care of it." I told him.

"Great! Lemme show you to the security office." Leonard led me to the south side of the building and into a small office with many security monitors and two doors, one to the east, and the other to the west.

"Are there any cameras that look outside?" I felt myself warm up with stress as I asked this question. I had not thought to consider this possibility when I was killing the boy.

"Uh, no... unfortunately, which means we won't see the actual killing... but maybe there are some clues, you know? Like, if Mark was inside and then left with a strange man or something."

"Sure. I will take a look."

Knowing I would not find anything, I started working on the console. The controls were fairly straight-forward. There were knobs that tuned a couple of different monitors to different cameras for a live feed, and I was able to locate reels of magnetic tape that were automatically being recorded and archived, a separate reel for each camera. I started with the main dining area, searching for the time shortly before I arrived at work.

Leonard was still watching me.

"So... this could take a long time, Leonard."

"Oh! Right, well, uh, I'll leave you to it, then! If you find anything, remember to call me or the legal department first, okay?"

"Right."

As soon as Leonard left, I sighed with frustration. How long was I going to have to waste my time in this security office looking for nothing before I could convincingly go back and say I found nothing?

Then I thought about it for a moment. I felt a bit of stress hit me again, causing my pulse to quicken as I realized that there was a camera in the kitchen. I had come in through the kitchen. No one had seen me before I doused myself with pizza sauce, but... the camera might show how I looked in those first few seconds... covered in blood.

I quickly switched reels and checked the kitchen camera feed. Sure enough, it showed a clear image of the back entrance. I gulped. I glanced around to make sure no one else was around to see the screen. I wound the tape back to when I came in. I watched myself come in, my shirt already stained before I grabbed the pasta sauce. I switched off the display immediately.

I took a deep breath.

That damned kitchen camera. Well, it was a good thing that they had put _me_ in charge of checking out the footage. Now I just needed a plan.

First, I removed the kitchen video reel and put one from the main stage in its place. I then moved the knobs and switches enough away from their active positions that, if the other employees were as inept at using audio-video technology as I had inferred from what Leonard had said, they would not be able to easily start viewing anything remotely relevant. While doing this, I made sure to stop the recording from the kitchen feed. Whatever was coming in from the camera at that moment would not be recorded. I thought about taking the tape from yesterday with me, but I realized that such a move would look very suspicious. Instead, I headed back to my workshop empty-handed.

I slipped in and grabbed an electromagnet, a power cable, and a heavy, iron handle. The electromagnet was made for use in electric motors, but, just like I had with the steam cleaner before it, I found a new use for it. I fixed the electromagnet to the thick handle so that I could aim it like a wand, and I plugged the cable into it so that I could give it power. I started walking back to the office.

"Hey! What'cha got there?" Leonard spotted me.

"Oh, this?" I said gesturing to the magnetic wand I had put together. "It is just a tool to help me fix something with the camera system... It is rather technical. I would not wish to bore you."

"Oh, don't worry about it! I wanna see what's going on!" Leonard seemed excited and eager to help, but thankfully, not at all suspicious. I decided I might still be able to succeed here, if I were careful.

We got to the security office, and I plugged in the electromagnet. "So," I said, beginning to play the footage from the main stage.

"As you can see here," I said, pointing with my left hand at the screen on the left side of the console, away from the tape reels.

"The boy is not in the main stage, well, at least not at this part..." I had to stall and keep Leonard facing away a little longer. While my left hand and eyes aimed at the screen on the left side of the console, my right hand moved the magnet over the tape with the recordings from the kitchen. I just kept it moving across the most recent tape. I realized then that I would need to reach a bit further back to hit even older tapes. It might look too suspicious if only the day of the murder were erased.

"Yeah? So... does he show up later?" Leonard asked me. He turned to me, and I dropped the magnetic wand to my side just as he faced me.

"Well, let us see." I continued. "I looked through the party just before his death, and he does _not_ show up inside the main stage, and if we look near the bathrooms, as you can see over... here..."

I pocketed the magnet and walked right up against the stack of archived kitchen tapes, making sure to press the side of my pants holding the magnet against them while grabbing a reel of tape for the bathroom camera from another shelf. I loaded it, and then switched the feed to the bathroom camera.

"Huh... okay, so... not there, either. Um... did you find _any_ thing?" Leonard seemed a little impatient and confused.

I realized that I was running out of time. I had to take the chance at this point. I had to have erased everything important by now, and I had to avoid the appearance of hiding anything at this point.

"Well, I did not find anything relating to Mark or the killer, but I _did_ find something out of the ordinary." I had to be the one to bring this up. If someone else found it later, it would make me a suspect.

"What?"

"The kitchen camera." I loaded up the reel from yesterday evening from the kitchen, I started it playing at about half an hour before I came in, and I stood behind Leonard taking a firm grasp of my magnetic wand. The heavy, iron handle might prove useful all by itself. If I had not erased my entry, I might have to do something desperate.

There was static. We could hear the sounds of people working, pots and pans clattering, pizzas being slid into and out of the oven, but no video. Nothing to see at all. The audio track must have been at a frequency just different enough that my magnet did not interfere with it much. I breathed a sigh of relief as silently as I could, loosening my grip on the wand.

"Huh? The... video's out on that camera." Leonard said.

"Yes... Yes, it is. I can take a look at it, but I do not suspect anyone tampered with it, since it does not pertain to this case, at any rate. There is no reason to suspect that Mark ever went back to the kitchen; it is off-limits to customers."

"Yeah, I see." Leonard sounded disappointed. "Go ahead and take a look at the camera, will you?"

"Certainly." I replied.

Thankfully, Leonard finally left me alone for a few minutes at this point to go talk to someone else I had not seen before. This other man was wearing a charcoal-gray business suit, a white dress shirt, and a maroon tie, so I inferred that he was an executive from the corporate office. He pulled Leonard aside and spoke to him in a voice too low and soft for me to hear. The man in the suit was wearing a stern look on his face and was pointing at Leonard. Leonard was either being scolded or getting some important instructions. He was nodding.

The executive was probably giving Leonard advice on keeping things under wraps, or perhaps he was getting an earful about the financial cost of bad publicity, the cost of running ad campaigns to offset the bad PR, the need to maintain revenues, et cetera.

While this was happening, I made my way back to the kitchen on the east side of the building. I found the surveillance camera and a step-ladder, and started to take it down.

I was in a room filled with no one but people who would not understand what I was doing, so the only trick was to remain nonchalant, which is not a challenge for me. I simply took down the camera, opened up the side, and gently tore the video cable inside the camera. I left it barely attached, not enough to transmit anything but chaotic static, but enough that it did not look like someone had carefully sabotaged it.

"Leonard!" I called out. He came to me. The executive followed him, standing behind him looking impatient. "Here is the issue." I told Leonard. "This camera needs to be replaced. From the looks of it, it has been damaged for some time, probably from all of the heat and moisture in this room. You probably need a higher quality camera if it is going to last here in the kitchen. It might cost around... four hundred dollars or so... give or take, but I can set it up, if you need."

I could see Leonard cringe and the executive frown when I mentioned the price. I had picked a good one. This camera was not going to get fixed.

"Uh, well," Leonard started to reply. He turned back to look at the executive, who simply glared at him. "It would be nice," Leonard continued, "but uh... the uh... budget for equipment is a bit, uh... I mean, with your new animatronics and their development and all, I mean, and, uh... since the _audio_ at least seems to work..." 

"And since this is not even an area open to customers anyway," I helped him out.

"Yeah! I... I think we'll just... y'know... leave this one audio-only. I mean, if something bad happens in the _kitchen_ , the security guard can at least _hear_ it, you know?"

"Sure, that seems quite fair. I think that is a wise use of resources." People will do just about anything for you if you compliment them on something on which they pride themselves and if you are trying to convince them of something they already want to believe.

"Great! I'm so glad you understand. So, yeah, I'll go ahead and let corporate know we didn't find anything here. Okay! So, I'll be heading back now. Uh, so, keep an eye on things, and... finish up those animatronic suits as soon as possible. Someone from corporate will be in touch with you about that, okay?"

"Sure. Thank you for your help, Leonard."

"Oh! You're welcome! Uh, have a good night!"

"Good night, Leonard."

I returned to my workshop at that point. I was nearly finished with my prototypes. I had adapted the two yellow costumes so that they could transform between costume and robot. The bear and the bunny.

They were quite bulky, since they now had to contain both the robotic parts _and_ the room for the wearer. Enough of my time had been wasted by this homicide investigation that I had to cut some more corners, but at least I was still free to continue.

* * *

"Wow, Spr-, uh, _Vincent_. It looks like that was a close call, huh?"

"Oh, yes, it was, but luckily for both you and me, I was not caught."

"What do you mean, lucky for _me_?"

"Well, if I had been caught then, you would not have this wonderful research material to study. You might have to find... something _else_ to do."

It sounded like Springtrap had been tempted to insult my career again but decided against it. I guess he's trying to be respectful since I stopped calling him "Springtrap" and started calling him "Vincent". Perhaps I might be able to get more out of him this way, by acting nice to him. It was easier, at least.

"Well, thank you for being so co-operative, Vincent."

"You are welcome, Karl. I suspect that my time for this morning is almost over."

I checked my phone. Sure enough, it was 5:59 AM.

"Oh, yeah, it is. Well, before you... uh, shut down, I was curious about something... Do you... dream?"

Springtrap just stared back at me unsettlingly for several seconds. Finally he replied:

"Good night, Karl. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow."

"Hey, you didn't answer-" I started to object, but it had already turned 6:00. Springtrap's eyes closed, and it was like he was dead again.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Thank you so much for reading! I hope to get some more reviews. I love seeing how people receive specific parts of the story, where they think the story is going from here, and so on!_

 _What were your favorite parts?_

 _What do you think is going to happen?_

 _The more reviews I get, the more I want to write!_

 _See you on the flipside! ;)_


	8. Where Fantasy and Fun Come to Life

_Author's Note:_

 _Thank you for all of the kind reviews! I sincerely appreciate the feedback._

 _I also appreciate your patience with me as I try to juggle work life with social life and multiple hobbies. I will try to keep up a pace of one chapter every two weeks._

 _Also, as you may have noticed, I skipped a bit with the mini-games earlier. As I understand it, the balloons on which Mangle jumps in MANGLE'S QUEST will not be there if the player has not already collected all eight balloons from BB'S AIR ADVENTURE in NIGHT 2. However, while I think this works wonderfully in a game, it felt just a bit too tedious for the story, so I just removed that part._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 _Where Fantasy and Fun Come to Life_

Karl drove from his professor's laboratory to the coffee shop to meet Salina. He could feel his heart thumping, even though he was fairly fatigued. He surmised this must be a side-effect of all of the caffeine he had been taking to try to maintain his grueling schedule. This could not be healthy.

"Well," Karl thought to himself, "at least I won't have to do this for the long term. Just another week... or so. I think I can get the rest of what I need. Hmm... Maybe I should call in 'sick' to the lab tomorrow and get some sleep. I suppose it wouldn't be too far from the truth."

"Good evening, Salina."

"Hi, Karl! Here, I went ahead and got you a Swiss mocha!"

"Oh, thanks!" Karl wasn't sure why Salina was being so generous; this coffee shop's mocha's were a bit overpriced. Anyway, it was time to get back to work.

"I really appreciate this." Karl said, sighing with relaxation as he took his seat in the corner with Salina and sipped at the hot, caffeinated beverage.

"Sure thing!"

"So... where were we?"

"I was telling you how I had panicked and run away after the second night." Salina said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, jeez, that's right. What happened?"

"Well,"

* * *

I got home, and then I started to calm down. I figured that it was like the guy on the phone said; the animatronic was just going where the sound was. I was just freaking out because of the bad ventilation, the creepy atmosphere, not to mention the nightmare I had the previous day.

Even so, I had changed my mind about wanting to see it up close. If it were really able to move around, as run down and damaged as it looked, I just didn't trust it.

I also started remembering what that that phone guy had said about the animatronics, when in robot mode, seeking out sound cues, so I wondered if maybe I could keep it moving around the attraction using sound cues.

That night, well, I guess it was daytime, but you know, the next time I went to sleep, I had another weird dream.

This time, I was the big, dark blue bunny, Bonnie. It was just like the last time, at first, anyway. There was a dark, purple Freddy telling me to follow him, but I was curious about that boy holding the balloon, about those lights I saw before, so I went a different way from the dark Freddy, over to where I had seen the boy before.

This time, I did not see him. Instead, I saw a small table with four dark gray cupcakes. They almost looked like they could have been made of ash, by their color. I tried to reach out to them, but something stopped me. I couldn't get close to any of them.

Then, I saw a couple of young children, their skin was pale, their hair was blonde, and there were long, dark streaks of tears drawn from their eyes down their chins. One was a little girl around ten years old, and the other a boy who appeared younger, perhaps around six. They were holding each other and weeping.

The boy began to speak, "He... *sniff*, said there'd be... cake."

The girl continued, "He lied... why?! Why did he do this?! We just wanted some cake!"

Then, suddenly, my ears were assaulted by a terrible high-pitched scream from both of them. There was a flash of light, and when the light dimmed again, the children were gone.

I wandered back in the direction of the dark Freddy again.

He led me down one corridor after another, until I got to the mess of pieces left by the previous Freddy, the one I had... _been_... in my last dream. Again, the dark purple Freddy disappeared off to the left. I couldn't see him anymore, and I couldn't follow him. It was as if he had just walked through a wall, but... there _wasn't_ a wall there, but I couldn't move or see through it, so I was _like_ a wall, I guess. I dunno. Dreams are... weird, you know?

But then... it happened again. A purple guy appeared from the other side of this dark... " _wall_ ", for lack of a better term, and then I was in pieces. I woke up again that afternoon feeling awful, but I quickly got better after I had some breakfast and got ready to head back out to Fazbear's Fright.

As before, I arrived a bit early. I wanted to take a look around. I wanted to check to see if that yellow bunny had moved, and I wanted to take another look at those arcade cabinets.

First, I noticed that the bunny was not just outside the office, anymore. That was good. Presumably the day crew had moved it off somewhere else, and it hadn't given them any trouble. I wondered if it were on a timer, so it only moved between certain hours or something. It clearly stopped at six AM.

I started touring the halls. As I rounded a corner, I heard some metal skittering across the floor, like a coin. I looked down and saw a somewhat strange-looking gray coin, about the size of a quarter, but it had something else for its design. I picked it up and took a close look. The image on one side was the Freddy Fazbear's logo, and around the outer rim of that side, the motto: "Where Fantasy and Fun Come to Life". It was a game token. I turned it around. On the other side was a cupcake.

What really struck me about this cupcake was that it was crudely drawn; it didn't look like something an arcade would have designed for their tokens, but it also didn't appear to have been carved or etched in later. It seemed as though it had, in fact, been stamped into the token at a factory. Hmm... maybe it _was_ designed that way to resemble a child's drawing.

Then I remembered the four gray cupcakes in the dream I had. Normally, I might have brushed that off as a simple coincidence, but... after what happened the previous night... I was a bit concerned. I kept looking from room to room, keeping an eye on the floor or on any shelf where there might be more coins.

I found a second coin on the floor just down the next hallway. I checked, and it, too, had the strange cupcake design on the back. A few steps later, I saw it.

The yellow bunny was there, slumped against the wall. My heart gave a start, and I checked my phone. It read 11:28 PM. I looked back at the bunny. It was not moving, and its eyes were closed. I slowly started to move past it. Moving carefully, trying not to make a sound, I noticed that it smelled absolutely awful, like something had died inside it. I remembered what the training guy on the phone had said about it being possible to be crushed to death inside a suit like this, but... there was no way. No way would something that horrible have happened and be right here. What an awful way that would be to die, though.

I managed to make it all the way past the bunny without it reacting at all, but then the awful stench got to me and I coughed loudly.

I looked back at the bunny in panic, wondering if it had heard me. I knew it was designed to follow sounds, but it didn't react at all. I wondered if perhaps the day crew had shut it down. No, probably not. Maybe it was programmed only to start up at midnight or something like that.

I kept looking for coins, and I found a third coin just at the end of that hall before the arcade.

I looked over to the north side, next. There, I saw a number of drawings posted up on the walls. They appeared to be drawn by children, and they didn't look like they were supposed to be creepy, in and of themselves, so I wondered if perhaps they had been actually drawn by children who attended the original restaurant or something.

One caught my eye especially, though. It was an image of a short, round boy standing underneath several party balloons. It reminded me of the dream I had after my first night. The paper was worn and faded except for one red balloon that seemed very brightly colored.

It caught my eye, so I leaned in more closely, and saw that not only did it seem more recently and brightly colored, it appeared to be bulging outward, too. I reached out and tapped it a couple of times, and realized that there was something behind the poster against the wall.

I carefully removed one corner of the poster, and I began to peel it back. There, on the other side of the poster, was a red button, like from some machine. I glanced around, but I didn't see any machines nearby. I took the button and put it in my pocket with the coins.

I went back to the arcade, where I found another cupcake-coin lying on the console. Four. I now had four gray cupcakes, like in my dream.

I looked at the arcade cabinet's screen. It no longer showed that frozen crash from when I finished the "MANGLE'S QUEST" game. It now appeared the way it had when I first found it, with garbled letters and other characters on the screen. I could still make out the part at the top that indicated "CREDITS: 1", so I still didn't seem to need the tokens to do anything with it.

Even so, I started looking for the coin slot, when I noticed a hole in the top of the console. Upon closer inspection, however, I could see that it wasn't for coins. It was round and shallow, and there was some kind of mechanism just inside it. Next to the hole, I could just make out writing that said "BB". Or maybe it was "88"? It wasn't clear.

Then, it was obvious. This was a button. The button had come off. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the red button I had found behind the poster of the boy with the balloons, and sure enough it fit perfectly. I pressed the button into the console firmly, and the screen changed.

It started playing another game, but this one was different. At the top read the words: "BB'S AIR ADVENTURE", followed by a picture of a red balloon, and the number "8".

Below that, it appeared to be another platformer, only this one took place only on a single screen. I controlled a short, round child holding a purple balloon, and there were several platforms around me that held big, red balloons. I jumped around from platform to platform rather easily, and each time I collected one, the number at the top decreased by one. When I picked up the last one on the screen, an exit door appeared back where I was when I started the game, but the counter at the top of the screen still showed "1".

I wondered if there were a way to get out of the level in this game, similar to how I had done so in "MANGLE'S QUEST". I couldn't jump out of the top right corner, so I went over to the left, and there it was. I was able to jump right through the wall and fall down below the level to a set of balloons floating in the middle of the screen, similar to what I saw after glitching out of "MANGLE'S QUEST". I jumped across the balloons and landed on a blue platform. At the end of it, I saw a little, ghostly figure with streaks of tears on its face.

My hands were shaking. This was too creepy to be an intentional part of the game, but it felt so... important... so compelling, somehow. I moved forward, and my character placed a huge birthday cake right in front of the little ghost. It was the exact same cake that I had found at the end of "MANGLE'S QUEST." The controls stopped responding. The little ghost opened its eyes and looked up, and the game crashed again.

Immediately, I was struck by a wave of euphoria and catharsis. I started gasping and almost crying, but I didn't even know why. What had just happened to me? Why was I having such an emotional reaction over this weird little game?

I looked back up at the screen, and it was back to showing the normal garbled screen that it showed when I first came in.

I checked my phone. I still had a couple of minutes before midnight, so I decided to try putting one of those cupcake-coins I had found into the coin slot. The coin slid in easily, and it was accepted. It dropped into the little coin bank inside, rather than being spat out the bottom, which I was thought might be a possibility. I checked the text at the top, though, and it still just said "CREDITS: 1", like nothing had happened.

I was a bit worried about losing the rest of the coins, in case they belonged to something else, but I decided to just try it anyway. I put in the rest of the coins, one at a time. The next two coins went in with no effect, just like the first one did, but once I put in the fourth coin, another new game appeared.

This one had text at the top reading "CHICA'S PARTY". This was another multi-screen platformer like "MANGLE'S QUEST". I was controlling an old 8-bit rendition of Chica, the yellow chicken animatronic character. She was holding a tray with a cupcake on it.

I wandered through the various screens collecting little cakes up on top of platforms, and then taking them to children. They appeared first wearing blue and bent over crying, but it didn't seem nearly as creepy as what I had seen previously. In fact, this looked much more like something that could have been programmed into an actual kid's arcade game. Once I handed a cake from the level to one of the kids, they changed from blue to green and raised their hands, looking happy.

I finished distributing cake in this way to four kids on various platforms, and then another "EXIT" door appeared in the middle of the floor. I thought about going to it, but I wondered if there were something else to find here. I moved off to the left and saw another kid like the one I had given cake to at the end of "BB'S AIR ADVENTURE", gray, ghostly, and accessible only by jumping across platforms that looked like big, red balloons.

I wondered what was going on with these games. I suppose they could have just been programmed into this cabinet and I was accessing them through glitches, but that didn't explain these creepy ghost figures, and it _certainly_ didn't explain why I was only able to access them because of information I had gotten in dreams. No, something very serious was happening behind the scenes, though I still wasn't sure what.

I jumped up to the last platform with the ghostly child, and my "Chica" character handed the child a large birthday cake, not like the ones earlier in the "CHICA'S PARTY" game, but the one I found at the end of "MANGLE'S QUEST". Just as before, the child opened their eyes and looked up at the cake, and then the game crashed.

Once again, I found myself hit with a surge of emotion. It was like sadness and happiness at the same time, like... nostalgia... or like meeting someone you loved after not seeing them in a long, long time. For reasons not clear to me, I found myself whispering "thank you."

I was snapped out of this strange experience by the sound of thumping behind me. I looked around, and I didn't see anything behind me. I checked my phone.

12:00 AM

Crap! The yellow bunny was already moving around! I had to get back to the office, but I had a plan this time.

I arrived to hear the recording Bonnie had left me already playing. It was another one of the training tapes, recorded by the same guy as the last one.

"-on proper suit-handling techniques. When using an animatronic as a suit, please ensure that the animatronic parts are tightly compressed and fastened by the spring locks located around the inside of the suit."

I pulled up the camera display. There was a button near the bottom left that I had ignored until now that read: "Play Audio". It had seemed unnecessary before, when I thought that I was the only one inside the building, but I was going to use it this time. I flipped through the cameras and located the yellow bunny. It had made it to the arcade. I shuddered thinking about what might have happened if I had remained there another minute.

The training recording continued:

"It may take a few moments to position your head and torso between these parts in a manner where you can move and speak. Try not to nudge or press against any of the spring-locks inside the suit. Do not touch the spring-locks at any time. Do not breathe on the spring-locks, as moisture may loosen them- and cause them to break loose."

"Good grief," I thought. These things seemed extremely temperamental. I couldn't believe that anyone had ever used anything like that. It almost seemed like a hoax.

"In the case that the spring-locks come loose while you are wearing the suit, please try to maneuver away from populated areas before bleeding out, as to not ruin the customer experience."

I felt myself start to gag. It sounded like the kind of thing that _could_ be a hoax, but looking at... and _smelling_... that thing in the corridor... I wondered if that were exactly what had happened. If someone had gone through a ton of trouble to make a fake robot that looked like it was the remains of someone being crushed in one of these suits... I doubt they would've thought it appropriate to stuff it full of rotting meat just to produce this stench.

Dear god... That thing was real. It was stumbling around with a dead human body inside.

"As always, if there is ever an emergency, please go to the designated safe room."

The what now?

"Every location is built with one extra room that is not included in the digital map layouts programmed in the animatronics or the security cameras. This room is hidden to customers, invisible to animatronics, and is always off-camera. As always, remember to smile; you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

That seemed strange to me, but I prepared to enact my plan. I switched my video to a camera just on the other side of the bunny from me. I tapped the "Play Audio" button, and I heard a child's voice say "Hi."

Then, I switched back to the arcade camera. The bunny was gone. I looked at the cameras closer to me, just to be safe, and I didn't see him there, either. I then turned back to the camera where I had played the sound, and there he was. The bunny had come looking for the sound.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _There is a lot to this night, so I think I will continue it in the next chapter, rather than making you wait even longer so that I can write an extra-long chapter._

 _I hope that you are enjoying it! I definitely appreciate all of your feedback and reviews, and I hope that you like what you see._

 _I love receiving all kinds of comments, including constructive criticism, outright praise, and more value-neutral comments about what you thought during different parts or where you see things going in the near future!_

 _See you next time!_


	9. Diving Deeper

_Author's Note:_

 _Thank you, again, for your continued readership and for your patience!_

 _Now, the conclusion of Salina Bone's third night at Fazbear's Fright_

* * *

I smiled and breathed a great sigh of relief seeing that my plan had worked, at least so far. The yellow bunny had followed the sound I produced via the camera controls, the sound of a child's voice.

I tried next to see if I could lure it even farther away. I turned my camera feed to the next room, and played the audio there, as well. This time, the childish voice said "Hello." Once again, I waited, and as I had expected, the bunny walked into view in the next room.

I started to relax. I thought that, in this way, I would easily be able to keep that thing walking around in circles all night. After standing in the room where I had played the sound last for a few seconds, though, the bunny turned and looked straight into the camera. Those eyes seemed to be looking right at me, as though it could see _me_ , not just the camera. It was extremely creepy, and I wasn't sure what was going on.

I decided to send the bunny back to the last room he'd been standing in, so I moved the camera back to the last room, and I gasped, my heart pumping hard in my chest as I saw something else entirely staring at the camera, its face right up against the glass. I couldn't tell what it was, and I could barely tell that the thing even had a face. It was so close to the camera that it was a little out of focus. I wondered if there might be something wrong with the video system, too, so I closed the camera view to go look at the maintenance panel.

There it was. The thing I had seen on the camera was right there in my office, right in front of me. It was like a darkly colored, scorched, burned caricature of a child, and a moment after I laid eyes on it, it emitted an ear-piercing shriek and lunged straight at me!

I screamed and threw my hands up in front of me, expecting to feel the impact of this thing crashing into me, and the pain of it attacking me somehow, but none of that happened. I heard the room's alarms blaring, but when I finally opened my eyes, the thing was nowhere to be seen.

I was hyperventilating, and my bloodstream was filled with adrenaline. My hands and legs were shaking. I spent a few seconds just turning my head wildly, looking around the room for whatever it was that had attacked me, but it wasn't there. Had it ever been there at all?

I had _heard_ it, I had _seen_ it, I couldn't explain or understand it, but _something_ had happened! I started to black out, but before I actually fell unconscious, I finally grasped that the horns were still going off and that they meant that something was wrong with the ventilation system again. I remembered Bonnie saying that the place would make me see crazy stuff. Could I have simply imagined something that bad?

Still gasping for air, I pulled up the system restart menu, selected the ventilation system, and engaged the restart sequence. A few seconds later, I got the air I needed again. I was breathing loudly, now, grunting and whimpering with exertion. This was so much worse than anything I could have anticipated. I then remembered I had to be careful of the bunny.

I pulled up the camera again, and saw that it had moved again. It was no longer in any of the places I had seen it already that morning. I kept flipping through cameras, but I couldn't see it anymore. I was starting to panic again, but I told myself that I had to stay calm; I had to focus, or I wouldn't be able to do myself any good at all.

I took a couple of deep breaths, and looked carefully. Then, I saw it. It was in the room just outside the hall that was visible from my office. It was there, and it seemed to be hiding... from the camera. It had maneuvered itself to be just around the side of and a bit behind one of the prop costumes.

This couldn't be. How? It knew. I didn't know what was going on inside that thing, but somehow it knew. It knew that I was watching for it through the cameras, and it was trying to keep me from seeing it.

I felt my hands clench. I felt my heart beating quickly. My breath came faster, but I was able to keep from going into full panic mode. This changed everything. I didn't think I was just dealing with a machine anymore. Something in there was thinking and wanted... well, whatever it wanted, I was sure it wasn't good.

Maybe... maybe the audio trick would still work, though, I thought. It had worked before. I switched the camera feed over to the room down the next hall away from me from where the bunny was, and I tapped the "Play Audio" button. This time, it emitted the sound of a child's laughter. In another context, the sound might've been cute, but in this situation, it was downright creepy. Even so, much to my relief, it worked. The bunny got out of its hiding place and moved right to the room where I had played the sound.

I shook my head. This was insane. What was _really_ going on here? It responded to sound cues like a mindless robot, but it crept around and _hid_ like it was thinking. And what the hell had been that child-ghost thing that had jumped out at me?

I watched as the bunny took its steps to the room in the hall in the middle of the building, the hall where I had played the sound, stop, and then turn right back around to walk back toward me. I tried to press "Play Audio" again before the bunny got too far, but this time, I was greeted with a new problem. The words "audio error" appeared on the camera feed.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I cursed as I quickly swung the camera display away to pull up the maintenance panel. There, I saw the red "error" indicator flashing next to the "audio devices" line. I quickly activated the restart for it, looking back up and around, wondering what the next awful surprise would be.

The audio devices finished rebooting, so I pulled up the camera view as fast as I could, and looked for the bunny. He wasn't in the nearby rooms. I checked the arcade. Not there, either. I looked closely. I scanned the shadows. I looked at the cameras for the far north side of the building near the customer entrance, still nothing.

Where could he have gone? I knew it had to be there... _somewhere._ Then, I heard the alarm go off. This time, it was the clock. 6:00 AM had arrived. I slowly stepped away from the console, walked outside, and to my car. I sat there for a few minutes, just wondering what was going on. I wondered if I needed to see a doctor.

At any rate, I decided that I would probably not be going back to Fazbear's Fright. Whether I was getting ill, hallucinating, or something else was going on, clearly working there was not healthy for me. I would just find something less psychotic to do for my summer job, which wouldn't be hard.

I figured the best thing to do first would be to go home and get to sleep. I pulled away and went to bed, hopefully to let my mind sort out what was going on.

That day, I dreamed again.

The two crying blonde children from yesterday's dream appeared again, but they weren't crying this time. They were seated at a table with a huge, three-tiered birthday cake on top of it. There were also several empty seats around the table, already set with plates and silverware. The two kids looked happy. They both turned to me and smiled.

The older one, the girl, spoke softly, just above a whisper.

"Thank you! It's really sweet!" She said, holding up her plate with a big slice of cake, coated in blue, pink, and yellow frosting. She cut off a bite with her fork, put it in her mouth, and her face practically lit up with joy.

The boy seemed to be enjoying his slice, too. He turned to me, too and spoke.

"We can't thank you enough, but... please don't forget our friends."

The girl looked serious again for a moment.

"My brother's right. I know we're asking a whole awful lot, but..." She started to look sad again. "we can't leave without them! Besides," she said, starting to smile again as she picked up her piece of cake again, "there's plenty for _everyone_!"

The boy added "Please don't leave them behind!"

The girl nodded and said "Don't give up." She then turned back to her brother and said, "Go ahead and put the cake down. We can finish it later, when everyone's back together. Right now, we need to help." The boy nodded and put his fork down.

Then the dream changed. It was back to being one of the animatronics in the original restaurant. This time, I was the yellow bird, Chica. Once again, a dark purple Freddy Fazbear appeared and told me to follow him, but this time, I heard the two children speaking to me.

"That's... the purple guy." the girl said.

"He's a bad, bad, guy!" the boy added, sounding as if he were on the verge of tears.

"He took our friends. Don't let him take you, too." the girl continued. "You're doing good so far. Just keep him away."

I wasn't sure what to make of what she was saying. I wasn't doing a good job of staying away from the purple Freddy. In fact, against my better judgment, I found my robotic legs moving, following him just as he told me to. Could the girl have been talking about something from the waking world? I hadn't had to avoid anything purple when I was awake...

We got to the room with the dark wall. On the floor were the pieces of the previous bodies through which I had experienced this already, the brown Freddy Fazbear and the blue bunny, Bonnie.

As before, I saw the dark Freddy pass through the black emptiness and disappear. As before, I couldn't follow; the darkness through which he had passed was like a solid wall to me. I started to turn back again, and I heard the girl say:

"This... is what he did to us."

Again, I saw the purple man emerge from the darkness and attack me. The pieces of my yellow robot body were being taken off, but then I saw more.

I was being held off the ground by a man much larger than me, lifting me by gripping my neck while a sharp knife plunged into my chest. I heard terrible, grotesque screaming. Then, I was lying on a table, unable to move out of the heavy grip of metal that crushed my chest so badly I couldn't breathe. The screaming wouldn't stop. I was burning, boiling, crying, screaming.

Everything went black and silent again, and the last thing before I woke was the girl's voice whispering:

"Please don't give up."

Then I woke up. That's how I knew... I knew I had to go back. I couldn't... quit. I also wasn't comfortable telling anyone else. Not only would I look crazy, but I might also ruin whatever chance I had to help. I didn't know for sure what was happening, but I felt very strongly, I had to see it through. No matter what.

* * *

"Wow... Salina. I had no idea." Karl could see what a powerful emotional impact this had had on Salina. He reached his hand out to touch her shoulder. Words failed him, and he wanted to offer some sort of comfort. Her ordeal had been truly awe-inspiring, and the story was not even over.

"What did you do next?" Karl asked.

Salina sniffed. She could feel her whole face tense from recounting the experience that convinced her to commit herself to these children.

"But... don't you have to get to work?" Salina asked.

Karl checked his phone. "Shit! Oh, I'm so sorry, but... I definitely need to hear more, but... yeah, see you tomorrow!" Karl called out as he ran out to his car.

Salina spent the next few moments sitting quietly at the table speaking softly to Karl, knowing he could no longer hear her. She whispered, "Thank you, Karl. No one has ever listened to me like this before. I'm so glad that I can share this with you. I can't wait to see you tomorrow."

Salina took a deep breath and started heading home, a warm feeling in her heart, thinking about tomorrow as she headed off home to bed.

* * *

Karl drove toward the bunker in a hurry. Fortunately, there was not much traffic at this time of night, so he decided to speed a bit to make sure that he got to Springtrap in time.

It probably would not make much difference if he got there after Springtrap woke up, he realized, but he did not want to miss out on anything, and it was probably good to keep an eye on the murderous animatronic being for as long as it was awake.

"He went for the sound..." Karl started thinking out loud as he drove. "He... _knew_ where Salina was. Even when he _knew..._ he responded to the sound cues right away. Well, I guess he's programmed to do that, but... That's it! He's not just a ghost animating a machine... he's the _machine_ , too... He can't do anything that the _machine_ can't do. He can't ignore the sound cues his body was programmed to follow. _That's_ why he wakes up at midnight and shuts down at six! That's the last schedule his body was programmed to follow. Well... that sheds some light on things."

Karl pulled up to the old bunker and quickly ran down the stairs. At this point, it would be faster than using the elevator. Reaching the bottom, he pulled out his phone and checked the time.

12:02 AM

Crap.

Karl managed to get into the observation room to see that, to his relief, Springtrap was still restrained to the wall, though he was already clearly awake. Karl made a quick scan of Springtrap's chamber. Everything was still in its place, as far as Karl could tell. Springtrap's restraints looked intact, the hand-crank was still resting in the tray next to him, and everything was good.

Karl took a deep breath, switched on the microphone, and started speaking.

"Good morning, Springtrap."

Karl winced. He hadn't meant to insult Springtrap. It was just the name he was used to using, and he said it before he realized what he had said.

"... You kept me waiting."

"Uh, yeah, sorry."

Karl was confused, once again, at his own choice of words. Why would he ever need to apologize to this monster? Karl shook his head and decided to just move on.

"Of course you are." Springtrap continued. "...and calling me that name, I guess that you have had a... rough day doing whatever it is you do when you are not interrogating your captive prisoner. You know, not even criminals in solitary confinement are bolted to the wall and forced to recite their life stories every waking moment of their lives."

Karl felt a twinge of guilt. What Springtrap said was true. Karl could see that Springtrap was a person, and what Karl was doing was, at best, in a legal gray area... allowable only because Springtrap had no actual rights being part corpse and part machine.

Karl nearly slapped himself to clear his mind.

 _No!_ Karl thought to himself. _This is a monster, a murderer, a PSYCHOPATH! You heard how he slaughtered those children, how he went after Salina. Don't let him get in your head!_

"Oh, but I suppose you have every reason to want to hurt me." Springtrap continued. "After hearing how I killed Albert Kröger and that boy outside the pizzeria, you must want to cause me such pain. I can understand that, actually. I understand the desire to trap someone... to crush his spirit... How _does_ it feel?"

Karl gulped. This was not a line of discussion he wanted to have, but he did not know how to respond.

"Let me guess." Springtrap went on. "It does not feel good, but you cannot stop, either. You feel you must continue, because there is no other way. Of course, you have not been seeking any other way, and you are content to simply conclude that what you tell yourself you do not enjoy is the only thing you _can_ do. Yes. That is how it is for some people."

"STOP!" Karl yelled into the microphone. He was shaking. He could not stand it anymore.

Springtrap started snickering, as if barely able to contain much greater laughter.

"Hm-hm-hm! Oh, please, Karl. We are just teasing each other, are we not?" Springtrap continued laughing.

"STOP LAUGHING!" Karl called out, his voice breaking.

"Oh, do not be such a spoilsport, Karl. Lighten up." Springtrap sighed, apparently no longer feeling the desire to laugh, but apparently also satisfied. "You sound like you could use some sleep. I would wager you have bags under your eyes by now. Do not feel that you must stay here on my account. I do appreciate your company, as always, but it is not as though I am going to wander off, now am I? Maybe we can both take a day off."

Karl had to admit to himself that he was tempted. He wanted to sleep, he was quite confident that Springtrap's restraints were sufficient to prevent any problems, and Karl could always just leave the recording going so that he did not lose anything especially important to research, but... he just did not like the idea of leaving Springtrap alone. Karl just had a bad feeling about what Springtrap might do unsupervised. This offer of a day off felt too much like a trap.

"No..." Karl said. Then, taking a deep breath, he continued, speaking each word slowly and deliberately, as if he were pushing through a tough resistance.

"Tell me what happened... at Freddy Fazbear's. With the children."

Springtrap sighed.

"Well, alright. As you wish, Karl."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Thank you for reading and reviewing!_

 _Tell me what you think about what is going on! Tell me what stands out to you and how you like it! It really means a lot to me._

 _By the way, I listened to Anamanaguchi's music while writing this. I love the retro-gaming feel of their music, to which I was first introduced in the "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" game._

 _Best wishes!_


	10. Pressure

_Author's Note:_

 _Thank you, as always, for your continued readership! I hope that you are enjoying the story so far, and I enjoy reading your reviews!_

* * *

 **Pressure**

Having managed to avoid suspicion for the time being, I was free to finish work on the animatronics, though time had grown quite short, so I had to make do with some rather crude revisions.

I had divided up several of the pieces that were supposed to operate in the robots into separate component pieces that could be retracted from each other. They would require a great deal of pressure keeping them together, however, to keep them operating correctly while in animatronic mode, so I had to load up some strong springs that kept all those pieces pressed tightly together.

I added a couple of gears and a chain connected to these spring-loaded components, and installed a hand-crank socket to the back to access the main gear to allow enough mechanical advantage for a normal human being to retract the pieces against the strength of the springs. I just needed to add something that would keep the thing retracted while in suit mode without someone needing to hold onto the hand-crank the entire time.

An engineer with enough time could have developed a multiple point locking system that required some sort of careful maneuver, like the insertion of a particular key, in order to release the springs and return the suit to an animatronic.

However, I was not an engineer with enough time on my hands to go through that trouble. I received repeated notices from corporate reminding me of the deadline for my new suits, and I _do_ take such pride in my work, so I made haste to complete the project on time. I installed a couple of small locks inside the suit. The wearer could slide them into place to interrupt the chain, to keep the thing from switching back to animatronic mode. It was flimsy at best, but, well... one makes do with what one has on hand.

The man in the charcoal suit came to see my work on the day of the deadline. I heard a knock on the door to my workshop. I was tired and finishing some things up, and it was in the middle of a busy evening at the restaurant. I imagined that it was likely either some young employee who mistakenly thought that I could help them, or otherwise some unruly patron exploring around where they did not belong, so I replied: "Go away; I am busy!"

After that, a small business card slid underneath the door, and the knocking resumed, somewhat more slowly, but even more firmly. I took a look at the business card.

Asif Albaf

VP – Customer Experience

Fazbear Entertainment

I sighed and opened the door. The man stepped in. As he had beforehand, during the investigation into the death of Mark, the boy I killed outside the restaurant, the corporate executive had come to monitor this situation wearing a charcoal gray suit, a white dress shirt, a maroon necktie, and a scowl.

"Vice president of 'customer experience'?" I asked.

"Yes. It's basically PR, Legal, Marketing, and R&D all rolled into one. There used to be more department heads. We cut some dead weight to make the company leaner."

Asif said this proudly. He was giving the clear impression that he had somehow beaten out a field of competitors all at the executive level. Without coming right out and saying anything aggressive, he was implying that he was a ruthless corporate player, not someone to be taken lightly. I took notice of this and used this impression he had of himself to inform the rest of my interactions with him.

"Come to see the finished product, I presume?" I asked.

"Indeed. Your status updates have been less than reassuring."

"I told you that I would have them finished on time."

"Yes. That is _all_ you said. Not very reassuring."

"Did you really want a thirty-page technical log describing every gear, spring, and rotor added or adjusted in these things? I doubt someone whose time is as valuable as yours would care to read such mundane details. The only thing about which you _really_ cared was that I finished... on... time. Am I right?"

"Fine. Show me."

I gestured to the two animatronic/suit hybrid prototypes I had developed. Each one had been based on one of the original suits, in this case, the Golden Freddy Fazbear and the yellow Bonnie.

I powered each of them on, and I allowed them to move around a bit in the back of the workshop. There was not much room, but they looked around and did a rudimentary sort of dance.

I will not get into how difficult it was to program them to "dance" without falling flat on their faces. It really consisted simply of them lifting up one foot at a time while lifting and spreading their arms. It would be somewhat pathetic for a person to do this, but for robots, it was quite state-of-the-art, if I do say so, myself.

While the golden Freddy was up on one foot, mister Albaf walked up to it and shoved it firmly with his right hand. The Freddy animatronic immediately took a step back, planting both feet on the floor and regaining its balance. It then proceeded to laugh a cheerful, somewhat deep tone:

"Ho, ho, ho, ho!"

Asif responded:

"Alright. Not bad. You know kids can't keep their hands to themselves these days. We couldn't have robots that would fall over as soon as the kids started getting rowdy."

"Of course not." I replied. "You won't find more advanced robotics anywhere... for the price. These are custom-made."

"Alright, then. Show me suit-mode."

I picked up the hand-crank and shoved it firmly into the socket on Freddy's side. This stopped his automatic movements. Then, I began turning it. Freddy sat down as his robotic components slowly compressed and retracted into the sides of the suit, his back opening up. I gestured to the hand-crank and to the spring-locks inside.

"Well?" Asif asked. "Go on."

I did not feel particularly comfortable being the first one to test these things as suits. I was fairly confident in my ability, but the safety measures were the things on which I had cut the most corners to make this deadline. I had never expected to find myself _inside_ one of them. I was an engineer, not some minimum-wage high-school dropout entertainer.

"Actually, mister Albaf..." I replied. "I think I might be able to provide a _better_ demonstration."

"What do you mean?"

"Part of the value of my machines is that they are simple to use. Bring someone in without a degree. Bring someone in who would _actually_ be wearing this suit, and I will show you not only that this suit works, but that it can be used by... unskilled labor."

Asif nodded thoughtfully. He seemed to agree with my statement and stepped out, presumably to pull in some pimple-faced teen to be my first guinea pig.

I felt a bit conflicted. The kid would likely be less careful than I at keeping the spring-locks in place, more likely to fuck it all up, and if he _did_ get himself crushed, things would go very badly for me, presumably... but at least _I_ would still be alive, and that was priority number one.

Asif came back leading a red-haired teenager in front of him. Affecting a cheerful tone, Asif told him: "You get to be the first to try this out! It's gonna be great!"

The teen grinned awkwardly and looked at the machine lying on the floor. He leaned in, and I pointed out to him the different spring-locks, speaking loudly and clearly enough that Asif would also be able to understand me.

"I have the mechanical parts retracted right now with this hand-crank, but to keep them pulled back, you need to set these spring-locks. Just move them into place, like this."

I flicked one of them into its locked position, barely holding against the chain into which it was inserted.

"There are three of them. One here, and the other two there... and there. Just make sure that they are all in the locked position, and keep them there."

The boy looked a little nervous.

"Huh... uh, is it... y'know... safe?"

"Do not be ridiculous. Of course it is safe." I replied. "You only _really_ need _one_ of these locks engaged to keep the machine in suit mode. With three locks, there is plenty of redundancy."

"Uh... b-but, so... what happens if the locks undo... while I'm in it?"

"What did I _**just say**_? That _**will not**_ happen."

"O-okay, sorry! Yeah, I'll just set the locks."

I noticed Asif grinning out of the corner of my eye. I think he liked the way I spoke to the teen. I suspected as much. Asif is used to dominating others, so he was likely to respect that in others.

The teenager whose name I never bothered to get then flicked the remaining two spring-locks into place and climbed inside. I squinted a bit as I removed the hand-crank, wincing briefly, just a bit concerned at the possibility of getting a spray of blood in my eyes.

However, as I had hoped and expected, the locks held in place. The back of the suit closed, and the boy stood up and began walking around. His voice came a bit muffled from inside the head of the golden Freddy suit.

"Oh, wow! Ha! This is pretty cool! I mean, it's a bit tough to move around 'n stuff, but I feel... y'know, strong and... stable."

"That suit is very well proportioned and weighted. You will have an easier time keeping your balance _in_ the suit than you will _out_ of it." I added.

"Yeah, cool! So... um, how do I get back... _out_ of it?"

"Just flip the release underneath where your fingers rest inside the hands of the suit. Lift it up, and the back will open back up for you to climb out."

The teenager did as I commanded, the back hatch swung open lightly, and he gingerly stepped out. "Ah, nice! Well, that's some pretty rad stuff!"

"Yes. I could not have put it better myself." I replied with some sarcasm that I knew the boy would not detect.

Asif clapped his hands and said "Alright, then! I hope you enjoyed this, but break-time is over. Let's get back to delighting our customers!"

"Oh? Okay, then. Sure." The boy walked back out to the loud restaurant. The sound of screaming children was not something I enjoyed seeping into my workshop during those brief moments when the door was actually _open_.

The moment the door closed behind him, Asif renewed his stern look and tone and asked me: "So, how safe is it _really_?"

"For liability purposes, I would say to give a very clear warning about those spring-locks, but as long as people follow those instructions, they will be fine." I said, peering into the machine, checking the state of the thing, making sure that it was still in proper order.

"How about you show me how it goes back into animatronic mode, then?" 

I found myself unable to stifle a smile. I felt nearly giddy. "Well, that is my favorite part."

I stuck the hand-crank into the socket to keep everything in place for the moment, and then I reached inside to undo the spring-locks. I released two of them, and then noticed that the last of the three had already been released while the teenage employee was piloting it. I grimaced and looked more closely. It was not the firmest switch in the world. If the kid had brushed against it wrong, that might have been what had caused it to slip out of position, especially if most of the strain of the chain were on the other two locks, but all things considered, I thought of this as quite a successful test.

I returned to the hand-crank and simply slid it out of position.

Immediately, all of the mechanical components inside the suit slammed together with a loud **CLANG** followed by a couple of brief clicking sounds as the last few pieces locked into place.

I turned to Asif beaming with pride and said: "You see? It could not be easier. It is ready to run in animatronic mode right away."

I loved that part. I love automation. I love that machines can do exactly what you tell them to do, that in the hands of a skilled engineer, a whole array of things requiring great physical strength can be made to happen with inhuman spatial and temporal precision all with the push of a single button, and it can be made to happen precisely the same way every time.

You know, before everyone had a computer, engineers made machines to handle just about anything. We had adding machines and cash registers that worked using a complex and intricate system of tumblers, locks, gears, and axles to always produce the correct output. No electricity was even required. I would be willing to bet that you have no idea about such things, do you?

Oh, what am I saying? Of course you have no idea. Everything you know is electronic, governed by messy computer code produced and compiled in layer upon layer of wasteful, error-prone software. Do you know why every computer crashes? It is because every operating system is shit. What competent engineers do is get a set of simple machines, and then make them do exactly one job. You build a complex machine with a single purpose, you engineer it from the ground up for that purpose, and if you are somewhat competent, it will do what you want it to do.

We landed on the fucking moon with a computer more basic than the electronics in your modern **toasters** that have probably have some ridiculous computer-controlled stop/start/defrost buttons. The Apollo computer had sixty-four kilobytes of memory and operated at a clock speed of forty-three kilohertz. Do you know why it worked? It had _one job_ , and it was designed to that one job well.

It used to _mean_ something to be an engineer.

…

Wait, where were we? Oh, yes, I had finished my demonstration to the vice president, Asif Albaf. He was thoroughly impressed, and he had me write up some safety notes and operating instructions that would be provided to Leonard, the head of security, to read. He would be recording training tapes for the employees that would end up wearing these things.

"Let's try these at our... sister location, first." Asif said before leaving my workshop.

"Where would that be?" I asked.

Asif paused before responding.

"Somewhere we can test certain things without worrying about OSHA and other regulatory agencies breathing down our necks. Globalization is a wonderful thing, Vincent."

"Are you going to be moving me to this 'sister' location to perform maintenance and oversight?"

"No. There's no need to pay for your travel expenses. You just showed me how even 'unskilled labor' can work the machines, right? If the real value here is their ease of use, then I can hardly leverage that value if I need to lug our engineer around the globe for 'maintenance and oversight'."

"Right. Well, then, with the recent deadline 'adjustments', I was only able to produce these two prototypes. You will be sending them to the sister location?"

"No. Let's keep those here. It'll be nice to have backups. No, just turn over copies of your schematics and blueprints, and we'll have the machinists build new machines based on them on location. It's much cheaper that way."

"You... think that you can have the world's lowest bidder produce my machines with the same quality?"

"Ha! No, not the _same_ quality, just enough that it will work. After all, if you're a good engineer, then your blueprints should be perfectly adequate, right?"

"Of course."

"By the way, they're not _your_ machines, understand, Vincent? You designed these schematics for Fazbear Entertainment; your salary pays you for the designs, which are the property of Fazbear Entertainment."

I had to bite my tongue to keep from replying sarcastically "Oh, and what a generous salary it is!". I knew that would not help my situation, but I could not help but be perturbed by the way Asif insisted on emphasizing his _control_ over everything, regardless of my importance in the matter.

Have you ever had to deal with that? Have you ever had to endure someone who barely knows what you are doing and who you are, who tries to assert _control_ over you, over your situation, trying to act _dominant_ just for the personal satisfaction of being in _charge_? Have you, _Karl_? Well, I can tell you that it is most... _annoying_.

Anyway, I simply replied:

"Yes, of course, mister Albaf. The schematics are all here. I just need to make some backup copies."

"Be quick about it, though. We are trying to get the factories producing them next week. Just get the copies made at Kinko's or wherever, then mail them- _**express**_ \- to the corporate office address on the back of my business card. Get them in the mail tonight."

Asif turned and started to leave the workshop. I asked:

"Is there a corporate expense account I can use? Blueprint copies are not cheap, and neither is express mail-"

He did not reply. He did not even stop. He just closed the door behind him as he walked out.

I have to say, I _did_ hate him in that moment, but underneath the momentary frustration, in retrospect, I had to respect the man somewhat. He had a mind for efficiency, at least, and he took advantage of his position. He _leveraged_ his power to the best of his ability. That is something I admire.

Even so, I was upset. I had just shown him a great technological achievement, and he had just dumped another unreasonable demand on my docket. Sending _my_ blueprints overseas to have third-world machinists bang out some crude facsimile of my work was not only a personal insult, it was just asking for trouble. The man may have had some idea of management, but he was _no_ engineer.

I gathered up my technical drawings and started trying to think of where the nearest copy shop was. I would have to go to the main office to get a phone book. I was loathe to make multiple trips through the messy, loud, and crowded restaurant, so I decided to take the schematics with me to the main office.

On my way, I would encounter additional annoyances, but I would also find an outlet for my recent sources of frustration.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _I am producing more OC's in this story than I had originally expected. Have you ever written anything and felt like it was growing beyond your original plans? Yeah. This might take longer than I originally thought, but I am getting there! I have a plan, I have an ending (or two? ;) ) in mind, and with each chapter, I am getting a little bit closer._

 _So, what do you think about Asif Albaf? What do you think about how things are going so far in the story?_

 _What is this outlet Vincent found for his frustration? Did he perhaps decide to pick up whack-a-mole and play some of the games in the arcade? :D_

 _See you next time! :)_


	11. The Lie

_Author's Note:_

 _Hello, everyone! Thank you for your continued readership! I hope that you are enjoying the story so far!_

 _I mentioned it before, but I feel like mentioning it again, in case anyone has forgotten:_

 _This story will NOT follow the details of the games EXACTLY. I am attempting to follow it for the MOST part, but I am also combining a few locations and tweaking the timeline slightly just to make the story work more easily, so just bear with me, if you can. :)_

* * *

 **The Lie**

I awoke in this slender little body, trapped in a tiny box.

I tried to open the box, but I could not even move.

Vague sounds floated in through the container. Laughter and cheering... then long periods of silence.

I would lose myself in the sounds, dreaming, remembering. But when there was silence... I was so alone... except for you.

You gave me this body, but how can I use it?

 _Learn to animate your body with your emotion. Remember what brought you to that body in the first place._

… Anger. I struggled against the box, but it would not open.

 _No, more than that._

… Rage. RAGE! I rattled the box, and it barely shifted.

 _Keep going, Mark. You are not quite there, yet._

HATRED! HATE! The box rattled loudly.

 _Good. Now WHAT do you hate?_

HIM! THE... PURPLE GUY WHO... DID THIS TO ME!

 _...and... what do you want to DO?_

KILL HIM! I remember now! KILL THE PURPLE GUY!

The box popped open, and I stood up in a darkened corner of the restaurant.

I had not been outside my box, had not stood on my feet since I got this body. How long had it been? Days? Years? I had lost all sense of time between bodies.

I looked around, but could barely see. The place was dark and devoid of life... an empty shell.

I stumbled into a pile of toys, plush animals and little plastic trinkets. I reached for one of the plush bear toys. I held it in my hands, but I could not feel it, not really. I could feel its weight but... not its softness. I held it close to me, and felt nothing. I squeezed it harder and harder in my hands, trying to feel the softness that these toys were supposed to embody, but it would not work. Instead, the thing tore to shreds in my grip.

I looked down at the pieces of fluff, cloth, and stitching that had spilled onto the floor. This was something I was never strong enough to do in my last body. Perhaps... I had the power I needed now... to get revenge... I was so tired, though. So tired. Past my bedtime. I fell asleep again, and the next thing I knew, I was dreaming once again, inside my tiny box, surrounded by old, familiar sounds.

* * *

Clutching my technical diagrams and notes, I walked out into the main hall, trying to make my way to the security office to get a phone book to look up the nearest copy shop.

Immediately, I was assaulted by the cacophony, the odor, the ridiculous display of bright, flashing lights apparently designed to cater to an audience with an attention span of half a second.

Grumbling, I marched off toward the security office as quickly as I could to minimize the amount of time that I spent in that awful environment. I had barely made it ten steps before a tow-headed boy of about six years careened into my left leg at full running speed.

The wretched child had not even been looking in front of him as he ran giggling and screaming through the hall. One of the rolls of paper slipped from my hand, unrolling as it landed on the floor. To make matters worse, the blonde boy had been carrying a soda, which spilled out over one corner of the design.

Had these been _true_ "blueprints", large blue contact-printed reproductions, like the kind I was going to the copy shop to make, this would have been less of a disaster. However, these were my original drawings. I watched in horror as the notes I had written in one corner of the design melted away under the sugary, carbonated acid.

"Ow! Hey!" The child cried out, as he fell to the floor, as if to imply that _I_ had been in _his_ way! He saw the soda spilling out over his hands and over my drawings, and the first thing he did was to WIPE HIS HANDS on MY DIAGRAM!

I quickly gathered my drawings back up, looking back at that child with such hatred. I had had enough. I was under too much stress. I was NOT going to reproduce this entire diagram, or even those notes in the corner. The main drawing was still intact, and the machinists in whatever-the-hell country hosted our "sister location" could just figure out the little details for themselves, for all I cared.

I was burning with rage; I could feel my veins throbbing and my face getting hotter. I decided what I would do to resolve this feeling.

"Hey, there, kiddo. Are you okay?" I asked in my best impression of a concerned, friendly adult.

"You made me drop my drink!" The child yelled back at me. Oh, I could not wait to crush him.

"Gosh, I'm so sorry about that!" I replied cheerfully. Then, more softly, "Hey, how would you like me to make it up to you with some cake?"

The child looked happy as could be, as if a simple switch had been flipped. I then remembered the security cameras that were aiming all around this restaurant. I would have to use a bit of caution.

"Yeah!" The kid nodded vigorously.

"Well, it is a secret cake. I am not supposed to give it out, but if you go outside and meet me by the wall on that side," I said, pointing at the western wall, the same side of the building where I had killed Mark, "then I can sneak you in to where we keep the sweetest cake, but you can't have any if you tell anyone, understand?"

The boy's eyes lit up and he nodded. I patted him on the shoulder, and he went on his merry way.

I then returned to my workshop and set those technical drawings down. They could wait for a little longer. Sometimes in life, it is important to stop and smell the roses, as they say. After all, we all must find a way to make time for ourselves. All work and no play, as they say...

I gave some thought to my plan. I found a large, cardboard box that had been used to ship some of my larger machines to me. Folding it up, I was able to fit it inside a much smaller box. I then grabbed a hand-cart for moving large boxes, and started heading out the back exit of the restaurant.

I moved around to the western side of the building, preparing myself mentally for whatever I might find. If the kid had brought along an adult, I could probably convince the adult that the child had completely misunderstood me. However, this was not the case.

The boy had not come alone, but neither had he brought an adult. He had brought a slim girl with the same blonde hair, probably about ten years old, from her height. I saw and heard no one else around. I took a quick glance up at the eaves of the building, at the fence on the other side. I visually confirmed that no one had added any external-facing security cameras since Mark's demise.

"What is this?" I asked.

The boy looked down at his feet, which he shifted in embarrassment. "Um, I... I accidentally told my sister and... uh..."

The girl added "And we both want some cake. It's okay, though. We PROMISE not to tell! It'll JUST be the two of us!"

"Ah, well, I am really not supposed to do this," I said, "but I can sneak you in. I only brought one box, though, so you'll have to get in tight."

I unfolded the large cardboard box and laid it on the hand-cart. The girl held her little brother in her arms, and they happily climbed right in, being as quiet as they could be.

Honestly, can you blame me? At this point, I am really just doing the job of natural selection, you know. If they are that stupid, how can anyone really be so upset at losing them?

I wheeled the cart back in through the back entrance and got them into my workshop, once again, out of the view of any cameras. I locked the door with a padlock, the key safe in my pocket, and then I considered opening the box right away.

I considered my options. The din of the children screaming and the games blaring outside was loud enough, and the sound-proofing I had installed to prevent myself from hearing it so good, that I did not need to worry about these children being heard by anyone outside, no matter how much they screamed.

I am not sure why this occurred to me, but I reached over and grabbed a spare head for the yellow Spring Bonnie suit and put it on. Completely disconnected from the rest of the machines, it was perfectly safe to wear, unlike the outer suit parts of the old-style animatronics, the ones that could not double as suits.

Here, I opened the box.

"Surprise!" I shouted.

The children were quite surprised to see me in that Bonnie head as I startled them. They let out a yelp, then slowly looked around.

"Umm... where's the cake?" The girl asked.

"Oh, you will have it soon enough." I said, slowly reaching into my back pocket for my knife.

"Oh, COOL!" The boy exclaimed, reaching over to one of the old animatronics, the old blue Bonnie suit. He was grasping at the suit components. I cringed briefly at the thought of his greasy fingers on my machines, but then I grinned.

"Would you like to get _inside_ that suit, kid?"

"Uh-huh!" The boy nodded again, still grasping eagerly, trying to get the parts into the right configuration. I picked up the Bonnie head and placed it on his head. Of course, the thing would not go all the way down on his head; it was filled with metal cross-beams and actuators. It was designed to be worn by an animatronic endoskeleton, not a human.

"Ow, uh... Rrg! It doesn't fit!"

"Here. I can get you into that costume."

I helped the boy onto a platform for holding pieces under a hydraulic press. He was lying down on his side, as if on a table, facing outward through the eye pieces, so he could still see the rest of the room. I placed the chest-piece over his chest and slowly started to press it firmly against his rib-cage.

"OW! AAAH! IT HURTS!" The boy coughed out, his lungs rasping and aching to pull air in.

At this point, the big sister reacted, as I had expected.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Stop hurting him! Just give us the cake, already!"

Confident that the boy was pinned tightly enough by the machine that he could not move, I turned back to the girl. I stared directly at her wearing that yellow Bonnie head.

"You stupid girl." She looked shocked and taken aback. "There is no FUCKING CAKE!"

I grabbed her by her throat, lifted her off the floor, and slammed her head against the wall. She maintained consciousness, but was clearly dizzy and weakened, kicking at me weakly.

"NOOO! HANNA!" "LET HER GO!" The boy screamed. He flailed and thrashed, but the grip of the hydraulic press was far more than a strong adult could budge unaided, let alone a toddler.

Still holding his sister against the wall, I turned my head slightly toward the boy. "I told you not to tell anyone. She is only here now because of you. This..." I said, pulling my knife from my back pocket. "Is all YOUR fault."

The boy was sobbing, tears were streaming down his face. "NO, PLEASE! PLEASE! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY I TOLD! PLEASE LET HER GO!"

Tightening my grip around Hanna's throat, staring into her eyes through the yellow Spring Bonnie head, I plunged the knife into her chest as hard as I could. I was aiming directly for her heart, and my aim was true. I let go of her throat, while still holding onto my knife, and she fell to the floor, already limp as her blood poured out into the drain near the steam cleaner.

I sighed. That was somewhat satisfying, but not completely. I did not really hate her; she was merely incidental to my punishment of the boy, who was presently screaming hysterically. I spoke over his wailing. I did not expect that he could actually hear and understand me in his state, but I felt the need to express myself anyway.

"Now, child, you should have watched where you were going. You ran into me in a bad mood. I am normally capable of tolerating your miserable existence, but your damned clumsiness was just the last straw."

I took another deep breath and felt my body start to relax, felt that stress start to melt away as the boy's sobbing became more characterized by despair than panic.

"Now, as I said, I am going to help you get that blue Bonnie costume on."

"No, no, please! I wanna go home! I WANNA GO HOME!"

I pulled a lever on the press, and it forced the chest-piece down over the boy's torso. I watched his eyes in particular as the press compacted his body. As it was with his sister, my face wearing that yellow Bonnie head was the last thing he ever saw in life. His screaming stopped after a couple of seconds, just before the press had come all the way down, really.

Then, silence... wonderful, rapturous silence. I could still hear the faint sound of the screaming of children at play outside the workshop, but inside, I felt so much satisfaction and peace. I had given that selfish, careless child exactly what comes to those who cause me trouble. I felt so much better.

I knew that it would be a late night, as I still not only had the copies and overnight shipping to do, but also a couple of bodies to clean up, but I had been so invigorated, I was unbothered by this extra work.

Once the bodies stopped bleeding, the steam cleaner was instrumental in removing evidence from my actual workshop. For the main bulk of the trash, itself, the two bodies, I just loaded them back into their box and took the box back out to my car.

Then, finally, I grabbed my technical diagrams, sprayed them with a thin acrylic coat to keep them from bleeding if they got wet again, and carried them over to the security office. There, I saw Leonard speaking with a concerned-looking blonde woman.

"I'm- I'm sorry ma'am, I'll look around and I'll check the cameras for-"

"Leonard", I interrupted, "I need to use the phone book."

"Oh, hey! Vincent! Um, did you happen to see a couple of children, uh, one's ten and the other's-"

I glared at Leonard. "There are kids all over this place, Leonard. I have been in my workshop. Do your job. I have my own to do."

I left Leonard to reassure the mother while checking the cameras. Meanwhile, I found the address of a local copy shop. They were open late, which was good for me. They were also located conveniently across the river from Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, so I could combine a couple of errands into a single trip.

I followed the river far enough away from the main road that there was no one else around to see me, and I emptied the box into the river. The box itself I would keep. I could burn it at home.

I still managed to get into the copy shop before it closed. The folks there were able to get my prints made and shipped that night, which was another relief. Things were, indeed, looking up for me.

The next morning, there was another investigation and, thanks to my careful planning, the footage required no tampering. It _did_ show the one boy, whose name I learned was "Nils", running into me, but he was clearly fine after that collision. He and his sister left a few minutes later out the front door and were never seen again. Meanwhile, I visibly was back at work, shortly thereafter loading a box into my workshop, completely above suspicion.

You know, that is not even the best part. It turns out that the investigation revealed that a convicted child molester had actually been at the restaurant that night, in violation of the terms of his release. He appeared clearly on the surveillance footage from the main hall. He had left the restaurant shortly before Hanna and Nils did, and, well... there was hardly any trial at all. No jury in the world would acquit him, regardless of the lack of evidence tying him directly to the crime.

Of course, the public defender was none too enthusiastic about defending a convicted child-rapist and presumed child-murderer, so there was hardly any defense at all. Ha! Never mind that they found no murder weapon. Logic was completely unnecessary. All they need is someone easy to blame and to hate, and people will happily condemn anyone to death without giving a second thought.

Even so, it was still a fairly damaging blow to the reputation of the restaurant, but thanks to our VP of "customer experience", we were able to spin it as more about a failure on the part of the police to monitor convicted sex offenders, and to show how the "heroic" efforts of Leonard Hawkins, head of security, were instrumental in identifying the offender's presence through the camera system so that the case could be solved as quickly as it was.

* * *

Karl's head was pounding, the pain of those children felt far too real. Reading about it in news articles was one thing. Hearing Springtrap describe the acts themselves in gruesome detail was entirely another.

"You have been awfully quiet this morning, Karl." Springtrap said. "Did you enjoy my story? … Well?"

Karl pressed the button to transmit and thought about responding, but he was too tired, too weary. There was too much stress, too much pain. He needed to get some sleep before work the next morning. He might need to get some caffeine before driving, though, he thought.

Maybe I'll just take a quick nap before heading out, Karl thought.

"Oh? It sounds like you were about to say something. Speechless, I guess. Yes, I know, sometimes I impress even myself... Sweet dreams, Karl."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _In this chapter, I offered a two-for-one deal on murder!_

 _I had not forgotten about our poor, deceased puppet, so I wanted to give him a little section at the beginning, too, which I hope that you enjoyed. So lonely... perhaps he will make a couple new friends, soon? :)_

 _Karl is wearing down. I wonder how THAT will work out for him?_

 _As always, your feedback, reactions, and other thoughts are greatly appreciated! Let me know that you are still reading, and that will help me to feel motivated to keep writing! :)_


	12. Catching Up

_Author's Note:_

 _Hello, everyone, and welcome back to "A Springtime Interview"! I hope that you all are excited about this story so far. I apologize for the long delay between the last chapter and this one. This story has become bigger than I thought it would be, and I am busier with other parts of my life now than I have ever been before, but I am determined to do what I can to see this story through to the end. Thank you all for reading, following, favoriting, and especially for reviewing!_

* * *

 **Catching Up**

Hanna and Nils held each other, sobbing and shaking inside the workshop.

"I'm so sorry, Hanna!" Nils cried, tears streaming down his face. His sister said nothing, but she held him closely, as she wept bitterly.

A kind-looking woman in a blue robe approached them.

"I am so sorry that this happened to you two," she said. "You can come with me, and there will be rest-"

"No. There is something better for you," Another voice from the dark spoke. A specter approached with the form of a very thin, slender body, darkly colored with a few stripes near the arms. The face was that of a white mask fixed into a permanent smile, but with blue streaks descending from the eyes, almost like rivers of painted-on tears.

"...Mark?" The woman replied to the specter with a note of incredulity.

The specter continued speaking to Hanna and Nils. "I know your pain. I know it completely. What he did to you... he did to me, too."

"Stop!" The woman exclaimed. "Do not interfere! These children have a chance at _peace_! Just because you rejected it does not mean that they must, as well!"

The specter continued to ignore the woman. "I can be your friend. I can help you. I... can help you make things _right_. This doesn't have to happen to anyone else. I want to stop the guy who did this to us... Will you help me?"

Hanna and Nils were mesmerized by the specter. His form was creepy, but his demeanor and his words were comforting. The woman looked more inviting, but... something felt more... alien... about her, in a way neither of them could clearly articulate.

Nils spoke first. "How... how can we help?"

The woman's tone become more stern and forceful. "You do not know what you are doing. There will be pain. _Terrible_ pain awaits you if you follow him. I am _offering_ you a way to put it all _behind_ you!"

The specter continued speaking to Nils, acknowledging the woman only now for the first time. "She wants you to run away, to abandon this place forever. There _will_ be pain if you follow me. But you are a tough kid. You have taken pain before. Are you willing to endure some more... if it means bringing justice to the one who hurt you and your sister?"

Nils looked back at Hanna, ready to follow her lead, to trust her advice. Hanna wiped a tear from her eye and smiled at her little brother. "You've... always been such a good boy, Nils! If you want to help... then I will stay with you. Forever. I promise."

Nils smiled again, for the first time since this encounter began. He turned back to the specter and offered his hand. "Yes! Hanna and I will help!"

The specter's face did not change from the smile imprinted into the mask, but his eyes brightened, as if to indicate happiness. "I am so proud of you two. There are bodies here that you can use. I will teach you to use them... as one once taught me."

The three human spirits disappeared from the workshop, each gone to their respective mechanical bodies. The woman remained, stunned by what she had just seen. After a short pause, she made her way out of that physical plane.

"Why... can you not see what you have done?" she asked of the shade.

 _What compels you to blame me, Death? I did not do ANYTHING this time._

"You know full well what I mean. You have corrupted Mark so completely that he is now corrupting others on his own!"

" _Corruption". Such an ugly word for standing up for justice._

"'Justice'... such a glorified word for an abomination against the natural order. Nature aside, do you care so much for their revenge that you would condemn these innocent souls to a painful living death?"

 _I have not condemned anyone. They chose this for themselves, every one of them. Perhaps the rest you offer is not the best option for everyone. At any rate, what is done is done. I encourage you to watch what happens next._

"I am afraid that what comes next will mean more work for me... as well as more lost souls."

* * *

"I... I have to get out," Karl muttered to himself as he ran, not even knowing where he was running. "Got to... leave!"

Karl was sprinting down a long corridor. On either side of him, red lights came on and off at irregular intervals, giving a strange, distorted impression of the space. It was not even clear where the corridor, itself, ended.

Karl grabbed for the knob on a side door, but the door refused to budge. "Damn!" Karl exclaimed. "I have to get out! I have to escape!" Karl felt hot breath on his neck and turned around to see Springtrap's face an inch away from his.

Springtrap replied, "You can't." His large, heavy, metal paw reached out to Karl's face, and everything went black.

* * *

Karl awoke with a start. Where was he? His arms were sore, and his head was aching. Karl realized that he was sitting at a desk, a trail of saliva leading from his mouth to a small puddle below his head.

He picked up his head and wiped his face off with his wrist. He grunted and rubbed his eyes. As he took his first clear look around, he realized he had never left his seat at the control room in the bunker.

Karl's heart started beating more quickly. Why was he still here? What had happened? Was everything alright? He looked through the one-way glass into Springtrap's chamber. Sure enough, Springtrap was still there, still bolted to the wall and dormant. The hand-crank still rested in the tray next to him, the controls were still responsive. A few seconds later, Karl began to calm down. He took a few deep breaths and reassured himself that all that had happened was that he must have fallen asleep during his last interview.

Karl then began to worry about getting to work on time. What time was it, anyway? This far underground, there was no sunlight, and there were no clocks in the control room. None that still ran anyway. Karl pulled out his phone.

12:45 PM

Shit! Karl was late for work. He would have to call in and pretend to be sick. He swiped over to the phone's "call" mode.

NO NETWORK FOUND

Right, duh. There was no connectivity in the bunker; that was the whole point.

Karl got up from his seat and moved over to the elevator. He pressed the large, round button to open the door, and got in. Just as he stepped inside, however, he felt a wave of dizziness strike him. He lost his sense of up and down for just a moment, and barely managed to catch himself on a railing on the inside of the elevator.

"Hoo... Jeez. Maybe I don't have to _pretend_ to be sick, after all." Karl muttered to himself as he pressed the button inside the elevator for the surface level and the small chamber began to rise.

Karl had to admit to himself, he was actually quite happy for the opportunity, for the excuse to skip work for one day. Springtrap may have been right. Maybe Karl really needed a day off, some time to recuperate.

Arriving at the surface level, Karl stumbled out of the elevator and made his way to the exit. He squeezed his eyes shut and shielded them with his arm, vocally wincing in pain as the bright midday sun blasted him upon his egress.

"Now, let's see..." Karl activated his phone again. Once again connecting to its home network, the phone immediately updated itself.

1 VOICE MESSAGE

From: Prof. Q.

Karl grimaced. His professor had probably called him to ask why he was not at work already. This was going to be an uncomfortable call. Best to check the message before calling though, Karl reasoned.

"Hello, Karl. This is Professor Quinlan. Give me a call as soon as you can to let me know why you are not in the lab."

"End of message. To delete, press sev-"

Karl interrupted the voicemail system's pre-recorded instructions, pressing 7 to delete the message. He took a deep breath and called back.

After four rings, Professor Quinlan answered.

"Hello, Karl?"

"Y-yes. Hello, Professor. Um... s-sorry I couldn't make it, um... I'm feeling really, uh, not well, and... I think I need to take a sick day."

"Is there some reason that you couldn't have called me earlier?"

"I... I overslept... Due to the sickness, I mean. I must have slept right through the alarm."

The professor sighed. "Karl... I can't have you calling sick this late in the day. You can come back in tomorrow, or you can go to the doctor and get a note. This can't happen again, understand? If you have to miss a day due to illness, I need to know at the _beginning_ of the day."

"Right... right. I understand. I'm very sorry."

"Okay, good. Aside from that, please take care of yourself, and get better."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

Professor Quinlan hung up.

Karl felt his chest getting tight, his heart beating heavily, and his face becoming tense. He hated the feeling of disappointing his professor. Even so, it should not be affecting him this strongly. He surmised that it must simply be a result of his sleep deprivation, of being overworked, of his excessive caffeine intake.

Just then, his phone made a tone indicating an incoming text message. It was from Salina.

[Hi! Looking forward to seeing you tonight! :) ]

Karl felt conflicted. Part of him really wanted to sleep for the rest of the day. At this point, he felt as though he could go to sleep forever. He shook this thought out of his head, however, and reminded himself that he had much work left to do. He had skipped out on one responsibility for today, and that was quite enough. He resolved to meet Salina and get more of her story about dealing with Springtrap in the Fazbear's Fright horror attraction.

First, however, Karl was going to go home and sleep. He set an alarm to wake him up at 5:00 PM. This would give him enough time, he estimated, to get some food, take a shower, and basically return to the world of the living and still make it over to the coffee shop in time to make the appointment.

Before starting his car again, Karl texted Salina back:

[Me too!]

Karl got home, left his clothes in a pile by the bed, collapsed onto his mattress, and passed out.

Karl's phone alarm went off.

"Wha-?" Karl's mind was barely conscious. Karl at first did not even recognize the sound. Then, once he finally remembered that it was the sound of his phone, he did not know why it was going off or what time it was. After clumsily grasping for it, he managed to read the numbers on it.

5:00 PM.

"What? I- I just went to bed, though! No..." Karl groaned. He felt as though he had merely blinked since falling into bed, but a glance out the window confirmed the phone's clock. He had been completely out for the past four hours.

Karl got up and started to take a shower. He realized that he did, indeed, feel better than he did when he went to bed, despite still not feeling a hundred percent back to normal. Then again, Karl was no longer sure what normal was.

Getting the shower and then grabbing breakfast (Karl decided that "breakfast" was really the best word for any meal that came right after such a long period of rest, despite the time of day) really made him feel fairly good. Good enough to get over to the coffee shop and talk with Salina again.

Salina greeted Karl outside the coffee shop. "Hey, Karl! How's your day been?"

"Hey! Um... it's okay, yeah."

"Oh? Well, hey I got us a nice seat in the couches in the corner."

Salina led Karl inside to one of the small alcoves in the coffee shop where, once again, she had bought a mocha for each of them.

"Thanks, again, Salina." 

"Sure, no prob!"

Karl savored a sip of the sweet, hot beverage. "Mmm..." Karl sighed deeply as he allowed himself to relax again on the soft couch. "Wow, that hits the spot. I really appreciate it, Salina."

"Sure thing! … Are you sure that you're feeling okay, Karl?"

"Yeah! Yeah... sorry. I guess it's just been a bit of a long day so far. But it is nice to be here with you."

Salina flushed a little. "Yeah! I... I'm really glad you're here, too!"

"So... where were we?"

"Well, the ghosts had spoken to me again, and... I decided I was going to help them... no matter what it took."

"Right! That's right... So, what did you do?"

"Well, I went back to Fazbear's Fright the next night, about half an hour before midnight."

* * *

I walked into the arcade. That seemed to be the place where I needed to be to help the ghosts. I wasn't sure what was really going on, here, why playing these strange games was helping, but I couldn't turn back now.

As I approached the arcade cabinet I had been playing before, something was different about it. I could hear music coming from it. It was a slow, creepy little piece of music that sounded like it was made with small bells. The piece also sounded strangely familiar. I thought I'd heard something like it before, but I couldn't place it.

As I got close enough to look at the screen, I saw it was no longer showing static, no longer prompting me to deposit credits. Instead, it showed a scene of a golden Freddy and the yellow Bonnie character that I had seen in this very building. They were both standing on a platform, presumably a stage, in front of several happy-looking children.

I placed my hands on the controls and began to move around. I was playing as the golden Freddy character, but this time, there was no clear objective. All of the previous games had appeared to be simple arcade games with some objective like "collect the balloons" or "give cake", but they appeared to have somehow been corrupted or modified by the presence of the ghosts. This, on the other hand, did not appear to have ever been a game. The whole scene was just... eerie.

I knew I had to do something there. The ghosts needed something from me, and I had to figure out what to do to help. I walked over to the children on the screen, but nothing happened. I remembered at that point that the bright, colorful children I had seen in previous games were never the ghosts; these colorful children were just sprites created for other games. The ghosts appeared gray.

The whole scene was only a single screen, a single room. It was odd. I also kept getting the feeling that the yellow Bonnie kept turning to look at me. When I paid attention to it, though, it just kept turning back and forth. It might have just been my imagination, but I was ready to believe almost anything at that point.

I eventually found the clipping glitch in that scene, just like I had found in some of the previous ones. I could move out of the level and drop down to another screen. As soon as I disappeared off the bottom of the screen, however, my golden Freddy character reappeared at the top of the screen, as though I could not leave, even by falling outside the level.

I took a deep breath to try to figure this out, but eventually I realized that the room looked slightly different. I had not just reappeared above where I fell, I had actually fallen to a new room that happened to look almost the same as the one where I started.

From there, I explored. I found that I could go left, right, up, and down, outside of the main scenes, to try to find something useful, something that stood out. Hopefully, to find one of the remaining ghosts.

Sure enough, after wandering around for a while, I found a room all by itself, with no animatronics and no children, except for another one of those gray, 8-bit ghost-children. I knew what I had to do, and I steeled myself for the emotional impact that I knew was probably coming. I approached the kid and, as before, a large cake appeared in front of them, their eyes widened, and the arcade cabinet went back to static.

I felt tears emerging from my eyes, my hands shook, and I started sobbing. Every time I gave cake to one of these children, it was as though I was forced to share in some of their pain, but it didn't feel entirely awful. It was more like a catharsis, like crying because you've found your way home after a long, terrible absence.

The feeling subsided, and I smiled, confident that I had helped one more ghost. I knew that there was at least one more still waiting, since the boy and girl had said that there were "others", so I would keep my eyes open, but I might need to just come back the next night to see the next one.

At any rate, I had something more pressing to worry about in that moment. It was almost midnight. The yellow Bonnie was about to wake up... wherever he was.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Thank you all, again, for reading! I really hope to see more reviews. I like to know what you think about how the story is progressing, what most stands out to you, and that sort of thing._

 _I have a plan for bringing this whole story to its conclusion, but it is going to take a good deal more time and effort on my part, so please be patient, and I will keep writing!_

 _Best wishes._


	13. Just Keep Breathing

_Author's Note:_

 _Welcome back, everyone, and thank you for reading! It has been challenging for me to continue writing with so many other things going on in my life, and I am also eager to get this story finished without sacrificing quality. To those who have been waiting for another chapter, I appreciate your patience._

 _And now, the conclusion of Salina's fourth night at Fazbear's Fright._

* * *

 **Just Keep Breathing**

As I made my way back into the control room, I listened to the recorded voice delivering another address to the employees:

"Uh, hello? Hello, hello! Uh, there's been a slight change of company policy concerning use of the suits. Um, don't."

Yeah, I could imagine after all I was hearing before, someone probably realized it was a bad idea to have such dangerous machines.

"After learning of an unfortunate incident at the sister location, involving multiple and simultaneous spring lock failures, the company has deemed the suits temporarily unfit for employees."

 _Multiple..._ and _simultaneous?!_ I immediately started to imagine what it must have been like on the floor of a restaurant where that had happened. I tried to put the gruesome image out of my mind, but I was having trouble doing that.

"Safety is our top priority at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza-"

I nearly gagged. It all just felt so sleazy. They clearly had no interest in keeping people safe.

"-which is why the classic suits are being retired to an appropriate location, while being looked at by our technician."

I started to wonder about this "technician". If he had managed to let such awful products through in the first place, then he certainly didn't deserve his position.

"Until replacements arrive, you'll be expected to wear the temporary costumes provided to you."

I felt curious. I wondered what these temporary costumes looked like.

"Keep in mind that they were found on very short notice, so questions about appropriateness/relevance should be deflected."

Wow. Now I was _really_ curious about these new suits.

"I repeat, the classic suits are not to be touched, activated, or worn."

Well, at least there's that.

"That being said, we are free of liability, do as you wish."

I gritted my teeth. Of course, that was the only thing this was about: trying to avoid company "liability". For all I knew, these poor employees were still expected to wear the damn things even after hearing this warning. I had worked at a bingo hall before where we signed an "official" document stating that we were expected to take fifteen minute breaks each day, but in reality, there was never any time, and we were always pushed to work constantly the whole day. I hated companies that did that sort of thing.

"As always, remember to smile; you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

"Fuck you, Freddy." I found myself muttering. I had meant to address whoever it was on the phone, or whoever it was in charge of this policy, but not having names for any of them, I went with the first name to slip off my tongue.

I then turned to the cameras while listening to a dull thumping overhead. I wondered if a faulty fan was banging around up there. It would not surprise me, considering how screwy the ventilation system was generally.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on any of the cameras. The yellow bunny seemed to be gone. This was a bit confusing. Had Bonnie and the others removed it?

The thumping continued, getting a little bit louder. I checked my system console, but confirmed that there was no ventilation error at that moment, so I ignored it for the time being. At that point, I noticed a sticky note left by Bonnie:

"Hey! That was a funny prank leaving the robot up in the vents, but could you not next time? It's kindof a pain to get him back down."

In... the vents?

THUMP

My heart caught in my throat. I quickly looked around at the vents in the office, but didn't see anything. I then turned back to the cameras.

There, I saw another button I had just ignored until now. "Map Toggle". I had no idea what that did, since the entire building was already covered by the current camera map, but I was grasping at straws.

With a push of the button, the view switched from that of the corridors to a view inside the vents themselves. Who had put five cameras up in the vent system, and why?!

Maybe it was part of an effort to troubleshoot the way-too-frequent ventilation malfunctions. My "Play Audio" button had disappeared from the screen, but there was a message above the map.

"To seal a vent, double-click the vent cam button."

To... SEAL a vent? Why would we want that? There are enough problems with insufficient ventilation as it is, I pondered, as I glanced at the different cameras.

There he was.

"AH!" I shouted.

His robotic body was pushing his way through one of the vents, heading straight to my office. He stared directly into the camera as he moved. I had never thought that I'd have to defend against an attack that way, and I had no audio device to lure him away. I quickly double-tapped the vent camera button corresponding to the camera I was already viewing, and a message appeared on screen:

"SEALING..."

This message flashed a few times before the indicator for that vent seal on the map turned red, and I was greeted with a grinding sound. I couldn't see the vent seal, itself, in the camera's view, though, so I was not sure if it had worked.

I nervously stared at the yellow bunny, and he stared back at me through the camera, but he had stopped moving forward. I had to assume this was because the seal had worked.

My heart was beating faster, now, realizing that I would have to keep watch in more ways than ever before, but seconds later, the camera feed simply quit with the words "video error" flashing in red in the top-left corner of the screen.

"Oh, jeez, you have got to be kidding me." I said quickly pushing the camera display aside and moving over to the system console.

On my way to the other console, I caught the briefest glimpse of a withered, heavily damaged, red Foxy animatronic standing in the corner of my office. I had barely any time to even notice that it was there before it leapt straight at me screeching like nothing I had ever heard.

Once again, I screamed, put up my hands, and tensed up waiting for the terrible pain to come, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes, and nothing was there, except for the alarms sounding and flashing to indicate a severe ventilation problem.

My heart was racing, my hands were shaking, I could barely grasp the system console. Pulling it up, I saw every single system it tracked was down.

system restart

menu

audio devices **error**

camera system **error**

ventilation **error**

reboot all

exit

I moved the cursor down to the "reboot all" button, but in my clumsy, incoherent state, I accidentally pressed it one step too many and pressed [Enter] while the cursor was on the "exit" button.

"FUCK, NO!" I cried out, as I quickly re-entered the command to bring up the menu. I moved the cursor back to "reboot all", took an extra half-second to make sure, and pressed [Enter].

I stared at the console as a smaller cursor moved back and forth to the right of the "reboot all" line. I waited impatiently for it to do its work. I realized with no small amount of terror that this was taking longer than it would take to reboot any individual system.

As it worked, I could hear sputtering and sparking coming from the mechanical components it was interfacing with. The speakers crackled with static noise. The cameras buzzed awkwardly, and the fan above me shook violently. A grinding sound accompanied a small shower of sparks, and I could see other sparking outbursts throughout the building.

I gripped the console and muttered "Come on, COME ON!". It probably took little more than ten seconds to reboot all of the systems, but it felt like an hour. During this time, I realized that it would be very dangerous to try this "reboot all" option again.

I had been worried for a moment that everything was going to break once and for all, but it didn't. The fans stopped sparking and started spinning again, the cameras came back online, and the speakers sounded clear.

Once everything was back up, I switched back over to the camera console and tried to find the yellow bunny again.

I gritted my teeth and got back into the rhythm of tracking him down, using audio cues to move him around, and darting back to the system console every so often to reboot faulty systems. I now added to that mix shifting my view to the vents to seal them as needed in order to keep him from sneaking up on me that way.

The system only let me have one vent closed at a time. Trying to close another would automatically cause the previously closed vent to open, which I decided was probably for the best, since I was often not getting enough oxygen as it was.

For once the terror finally started to die down, even as the tension and pacing increased. I felt less terrified because I finally felt like I understood enough to keep myself safe, and I was not as clueless as before, but I started to wonder. What was I doing here? What was my end-game? Was I just going to keep coming back and keeping him contained over and over, night after night?

I had another hallucination. The yellow bird, Chica, as I recall, jumped at me and immediately disappeared as before. I was starting to almost get used to these things. I mean, you never get used to it, really, but I was losing less time flailing about in a panic and instead, I would just flinch, tense up, take a deep breath, and reboot the ventilation system.

The children had told me not to give up, and I didn't want to give up on them, but... what could I do? I wasn't harming this thing in any way. I didn't have any idea what its power source was, and I wouldn't dare get close to that thing. That mechanical body looked horribly powerful, and its eyes... its eyes looked like it had very cruel intentions.

Again, 6:00 rolled around, the sun would rise soon, and I had survived another night. Once I was satisfied that the yellow bunny machine had stopped moving, I went and took a look at it. As scratched, torn, and beaten up as it was, at least on the outside, I could tell that it was very solidly built. Beneath the outer covering was a powerful machine that had not suffered much at all over the years (or had it been decades?) since it was first activated.

The horrible stench was still there, too, reminding me of what the guy on the phone had said about spring-lock failures. This suit had been a spring-loaded death-trap for some poor bastard.

I looked at the vent covers to see if maybe I could tighten them up or something to prevent that mechanical monster from getting in again. Once I saw the one the bunny had used, though, I realized that was not going to happen. The metal grate was surprisingly thick, but the bunny had crumpled it up like it was just paper. Even after he crushed it, I tried to see if I could bend it back into shape somewhat, but it wouldn't even budge an inch. This thing was certainly strong.

I let the battered grate clatter loudly to the concrete floor, and I walked outside into the fresh air to take several deep breaths, considering my options.

* * *

"I knew that there was no way that I could beat that thing down or pry it apart, even when it was deactivated, it was so solid, so sturdily built, it would take something..."

Salina stopped speaking, staring down at her hands. Karl reached across the table and took Salina's hand in his. Her breathing had gotten a bit erratic.

"It's okay. I understand... It's okay." Karl attempted to reassure Salina as she started to catch her breath.

"Do you mind... if we... not talk about this anymore right now? I... just need some time."

"Of course... Can I still come see you tomorrow?"

"Yes... Yes, please do, Karl."

"Okay."

Karl thought about saying something to Salina, but he could not think of any conversation topics. He sat there awkwardly next to her for a few minutes, waiting for some cue or idea.

Salina thought about saying something to Karl, but she could not think of anything else to say. She wanted to tell Karl that she liked him, to ask him about his own life, to thank him for being there for her all these last several nights, letting her reach out to someone, letting her tell someone about an experience she had never been able to share with anyone else before. She just couldn't bear to open her mouth and say any of it, and she felt a little ashamed of being so timid. She hoped that he could somehow sense it.

Karl glanced at his watch.

"Salina. Thank you, again, for taking this time to talk with me. I do need to get going."

"I know. Thank you, too."

Karl stood up and headed outside to his car, getting inside and heading over to the bunker.

On the way, he started considering what Salina had been telling him. He wasn't sure why Springtrap had attacked Salina, but then, the guy was a psychopath. Karl supposed that Springtrap didn't need a reason.

Karl's thoughts drifted back to what Salina was saying at the very end, how she was trying to think of a way to deal with Springtrap once and for all. It started to occur to Karl that perhaps she had burned down Fazbear's Fright, after all. Maybe she had done it in an attempt to destroy Springtrap. Karl couldn't really blame her, if that were the case. Springtrap was a monster, and that building seemed to be falling apart as it was, based on her description of the mechanical problems.

"Who knows?" Karl spoke to himself. "Maybe the police were right, and it really did just catch fire all on its own."

Karl also started to wonder about the hallucinations that seemed to have been "attacking" Salina. She didn't have any history of hallucinations or psychosis... did she? Karl realized that he hadn't asked her that, and might need to do so to make sure.

Hmm...

"But if she had a history of hallucinations, she probably would have mentioned it by now, since it sort of came up...?" Karl mused to himself. "Maybe there is something more to them. Maybe they were supernaturally induced or something... Not the ghost-children, I don't think. They may be creepy, and they may have shown her some disturbing images, but... they seem to be on her side, and these animatronics that attacked her... No, those kids never did anything aggressive to her otherwise, and why would they? It must be something else..."

Karl pulled up to the bunker and took the elevator deep down to the bottom.

There he was. Springtrap remained fastened to the wall, the hand-crank to his battered, singed, and disgusting body lying on the tray next to him. There were still a few minutes before midnight, so he was still deactivated.

Karl took a seat and stared back at Springtrap through the observation window. Karl wondered if this was similar to the sort of setup that Salina had. He had cameras, audio...

"Well," Karl thought aloud, "at least I don't have to worry about the ventilation crapping out on me. I haven't had any problems yet, at least."

Midnight arrived.

"Hello, Karl. Are you there? After our last meeting, you had me a bit worried. You know how much I care about you."

"Ha ha, very funny." Karl replied sarcastically.

"Oh, no, have I offended you? Let me make it up to you, somehow."

"Sure, why don't I just undo those restraints and see what you have in store for me?!" Karl replied, raising his voice slightly.

"Hmm... indeed." Springtrap's voice seemed almost ready to laugh.

"Not a chance." Karl realized that he was taking a rather antagonistic tone with his subject, but decided not to worry about it. Karl surmised that this narcissistic murder would be happy to continue telling Karl all about himself, just for the pleasure of hearing the sound of his own voice.

Karl continued. "Shall we get back to the story?"

"Ah, yes, after I disposed of those two annoying brats?"

"... yes."

"Well, things were actually starting to change up quite a bit over at Fazbear Entertainment. Certain managerial decisions led to some unfortunate events, but... I do not suppose that you want to hear all the gory details, do you, Karl? I would never want to offend your delicate sensibilities. Shall I just skip that part?"

"Ugh... Just tell me what happened."

"Oh, so you _do_ want to know. You _do_ want to hear about the terror and pain that occurred. Far be it from me to deny you that, then."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _So, Salina's flashbacks are just starting to get a little more badass, I think. She is learning how to play the game. Karl certainly is becoming more important to her. I wonder how he feels about her?_

 _Springtrap's story continues, and there is quite a bit more of that to tell, as those who are fairly familiar with the lore may know._

 _Thank you all for your patience! Please leave reviews with what you liked specifically and any polite constructive criticism you have to offer! You are also very welcome to PM me!_


	14. Backdoor

_Author's Note:_

 _Welcome back to the story. I hope that you continue to enjoy it!_

* * *

 **Backdoor**

Well, as I was saying, things eventually changed.

At first, it was not too bad. Things seemed fine with the animatronics over in the "sister location", so I was ordered to create more of them for our primary domestic location. I got back to work making more of these suits. We already had the gold-colored prototype suit-machines I had already developed from their original non-suit bases. They had taken to calling them "Golden Freddy" and "Spring Bonnie", and now they wanted a more complete cast of characters.

They had me provide to Leonard a set of technical user-oriented guidelines so that he could record safety tapes to play for the new employees who would be wearing these things daily. I guess they did not think that the tone that I would take with the employees would be suitable for representing the company. That is fair, I suppose. Leonard was always better at being "the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza", and I was content to let him deal with that task over me.

It was only at this time, however, that I finally became aware of the "safe room" built into the restaurant. It came up as a point that corporate had instructed Leonard to include in his guidance tapes. Mister Albaf came to me and told me that he wanted this room to be "invisible" to the new animatronics. I asked him to show me what room he meant, and he did.

We walked over to the northeast corner of the restaurant, off to the side of one of the party rooms near a fire exit. The hallway seemed completely empty until Albaf turned to the north wall, put his fingers into what appeared to be a simple seam, about an inch wide, between wall tiles, and pulled open a latch opening a hidden door.

Inside was a simple storage room. It was about the same size as one of the smaller party rooms, and it contained three broken-down old arcade machines that looked as though they had not worked in many years. For something that was so well-hidden, it seemed strangely unremarkable.

"This room is for emergencies only," Albaf told me. "The cameras don't look over here," he said, pointing up at the nearest camera. The north wall was completely out of its sight, "and your robots shouldn't come in here, either. As far as they and the customers are concerned, this is a wall, and nothing more."

"What sort of emergencies are you anticipating, mister Albaf?" I asked.

"You never know, Vincent." he replied. "A crazed gunman could come through, or we might just need to keep something entirely confidential."

"What sort of thing could we need to keep under secrecy in a pizzeria?"

"...That's confidential." Albaf replied, glaring strangely at me.

I wondered about his motivations. I think that he was just paranoid. I suppose it makes sense. People who are not to be trusted, such as those who engage in cutthroat corporate politics, tend not to be very trusting folks themselves.

I agreed to his stipulation, and I smiled at the knowledge that, if I ever needed some privacy from the prying eyes of the cameras, I could use this room.

Programmatically, it was not too tricky. The animatronics already used a basic digital layout of the restaurant for their navigation, and that layout did not include this safe room. They were not programmed to open doors anyway, but I went ahead and made a slight adjustment to suit Albaf's request.

In the event any animatronic went into that area and looked at the safe room door, they would see a pre-rendered image of a solid wall, even if someone had left the door ajar. Furthermore, the animatronics would simply not be able to move into that room. As a fail-safe, regardless of any other directives the rest of the program might put into its navigation queue, nothing would allow the robot to move into that room, even if the door were wide open for them.

Anyway, it was going to take me quite a while to produce four new animatronic suits, even with my approved blueprints. I was a team of only one, and there was only so much I could do in a day. I never did get to finish any other animatronic suits, as it turned out.

One would have to expect that, after some time, eventually the shoddy machines cobbled together by the inept third-world machinists who do not deserve to even look upon my blueprints, let alone attempt to put them into something coherent, failed.

Ha... the spring-locks keeping the animatronics in suit-mode over there were not as precisely manufactured as the ones that I had made. They stayed in place fairly well most of the time, but it did not take much jostling to loosen them.

They never did tell me in what country the "sister location" was located, but it was apparently one that was prone to occasional tremors. The structures were mostly intact after that last tremor, but apparently, every single spring-lock in the restaurant came loose... at the same time.

Oh, how I wish I could have been there to see it. It must have been quite an experience!

I did not get to see the carnage itself, but I did get to see some portion of the aftermath. They sent the suits back to me to examine them, to determine what went wrong, to make better machines. The bulk of the corpses had been extracted already, but I still had to deal with the grotesque stench, along with the sticky dried blood and occasional clumps of hair, skin, and other tissues.

Mister Albaf asked me to determine the cause of the failure, and he apparently did not like that my answer was that the idiots on location had not followed my blueprints precisely. Selecting a decent manufacturer was apparently not an option, which, I suppose, should not have surprised me. Fazbear Entertainment was always keen on cutting costs any way that they could.

Then, he directed me to develop animatronics that had no suit mode, quite like what I was originally developing before they changed their requirements mid-stream. I considered that part of the "cause of failure" of these new suits may have been managerial incompetence, but I surmised that stating that conclusion to mister Albaf would not be a wise move. Ha.

They already had an old brown bear they called "Freddy" and a black-and-white striped puppet.

Speaking of which, that puppet had started to act strangely. I mean, it was always creepy, but now... well, never mind that. I do not want to get side-tracked.

I was tasked with creating purely robotic versions of the remaining "cast members". There was a purple rabbit, a yellow chicken, and a red fox. They currently had costumes for these roles, but they wanted robots to replace them.

I got my hands on some of the spare costumes for each one, and set to work. They wanted these robots to look pretty much the same as the old costumes, so I decided that the best way to accomplish this feat would be to simply use the costumes themselves as a base, and I could create a sort of robotic endoskeleton that would fit inside the costume and move it around. That way, I would only have to develop one true robot model and it could be outfitted with any of the costumes.

Naturally, the costumes themselves would have to be custom-fitted in order to suit the standard endoskeleton that I was going to build. This would render the costumes unusable as suits by human beings. The robot hardly needs a human-sized head. The costume heads really need more space in that area for actuators, crossbeams for stabilization, wires, and other animatronic devices.

Even so, it seemed like the lowest-cost option for what Fazbear Entertainment wanted, and I knew that providing them with a cheap option would always put me in their good graces... or at least help to discourage them from finding a replacement. I had no illusions; if they found a cheaper alternative than me, they would not hesitate to rid themselves of me. In fact, knowing them, they were probably already calling around, requesting bids to do what I do, and as long as I could keep undercutting the outside world, they would still have a use for me.

So, I set about building those three new machines. It took several months, but I managed to get each one in working order, specifically programmed with its own home location and route around the restaurant for greeting children and other patrons.

What? You want to know what else I did during those months? Would you not believe me if I said "nothing"? Honestly, Karl, I am not some completely out-of-control maniac. Certainly, it was less than ideal working in a restaurant surrounded by loud, annoying children, but I kept to my workshop, and they did not cause me any further distress. I only killed those last two because that boy had gotten on my last nerve damaging my blueprints while I was already under undue stress.

Really, now, Karl. You make me sound like sort of "murder junkie" always looking for my next fix. Ha, ha. Actually, come to think of it, if that is the part of the story you most want to hear, I can tell you what happened the **next** time someone really got under my skin, sticking their noses in places they did not belong, and, worst of all, disrupting my work.

I had finally created the animatronics to hang around the floor and perform the song routines requested by management. They were pretty robust, considering the materials available to me. Budgets had been cut, so I could not make them quite as sturdy and resilient as the mechanical suits that I had created before. That Golden Freddy and Spring Bonnie were the best things I had ever developed. These other devices, well, they were as good as one could expect from the available resources.

Case in point, the red fox, named "Foxy", was supposed to be a pirate. There was a hook in place of one of its hands, and it also wore an eyepatch. It actually had two working eyes; those eyes are part of the standard endoskeleton model that can fit into any of the costumes, but they decided on the "pirate" motif after development, and just threw an eyepatch on top of it. It always bothered me to see measures like that added as a half-baked afterthought.

Now, I had programmed the robots to be able to see their surroundings and to use that optic information to plan their steps to move around. In order to keep their animal-like appearance, it made sense for them to have two eyes anyway, so I made both functional, and I developed a system to basically allow one eye to compensate for the other if it becomes dirty or otherwise unusable. It was actually not as complicated a programming feat as you might think to simply have each eye fill in "dark" spots on the other side.

However, no matter how well-designed a system is, there are always ways to break them. With unlimited resources, one could make an extremely robust system that would resist almost all anomalous situations, but of course, resources are always limited, and one must prepare for the most common scenarios. I had not planned for strobe lights.

We did not use strobe lights in the restaurant. It was an epilepsy liability. So, imagine my chagrin when a couple of little morons came in with a hand-held battery-powered strobe light, and started playing with it throughout the damned restaurant.

I guessed that they were about eleven and twelve years old, an eleven year old girl with red hair, and a twelve year old blonde boy. They were taking turns aiming the light at passersby, at staff members, and, worst of all, at the animatronics.

If I could spend the entire day locked in my workshop, I would, but they do not have food, water, or a bathroom in there, so I had to leave from time to time, as much as it pained me to do so. Over the course of this day, I had watched this brilliantly bright light flashing as I passed, but I could not quite see from where it was coming. I did my best to simply ignore it, but was much brighter than one would expect, and it really stood out, even in the restaurant bathed in fluorescent lamps.

By my third bathroom trip of the day, I noticed that there was a lot of laughing and yelling all coming from one particular corner of the restaurant, "Pirate's Cove". I figured that whatever was happening might just be troublesome enough to warrant my attention, so I walked over, and what do I see? These two little imps blasting Foxy with their strobe light!

Every two seconds or so, the animatronic would shift, jerk, and seem to lose its place, and the little hellions were just giggling hysterically. It was like a slap in the face, to see them mocking my machine, making an absolutely ridiculous mess of it.

I began to growl with anger. Were there parents anywhere nearby? Was no one going to discipline any of them? My fingernails dug into my palms as I made tight fists.

Have I mentioned how I hate kids?

I noticed that none of the other animatronics seemed to have significant problems with the strobe light. At worst, they would stop for a moment, but they would generally continue their routine. Foxy was the one that was just losing all coordination, twitching violently, almost walking backward at times.

I surmised that this had to do with the damned idiotic eyepatch idea. Because that machine did not have the use of its other eye to offer any correction, every single flash from that strobe completely broke the brightness and contrast adjustment, rendering it not only almost blind, but apparently causing unhandled errors in the navigation system, causing it to erratically detect walls, obstacles, paths, or any such thing in any direction at any time.

At any rate, those kids were not going to get away with it. I started forming a plan to deal with them.

I was aware now of the "safe room", and I could potentially use that to my advantage. No cameras would see anyone going in or out or would see anything happening inside. I might still need to clean up any evidence that I leave in there, but I would probably have plenty of time for that, since even staff almost never went in there. Most of the staff did not even know about it.

Obviously Asif Albaf knew about it, and I knew that Leonard knew because he had to mention it in his recordings about the use of the animatronic suits, but now that we were no longer using those suits, we simply dumped the yellow prototypes back in the safe room and stopped informing new employees of their existence. With the high degree of turnover in this minimum wage shit job, I was not sure whether or not any of them were still around who had heard about the safe room in their training. I think that it was only ever mentioned to them when stating what to do in case of a springlock failure. In fact, considering the state of the room when last I saw it, I realized that not even cleaning crew were likely informed of it, and I knew of no business that would bring Leonard there, so barring some truly bizarre emergency, it would likely be all mine, and any mess I left could go unnoticed for days while I found time to clean it up. I would not even have to worry about removing video footage like I did when I killed Mark so long ago.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Well, now, I wonder what will happen NEXT? No, of course you are not anticipating much of a surprise in the next chapter, but I hope that I can build a bit of suspense, at least, and paint another lovely, horrifying, disturbing picture for all of you sick psychopaths out there still reading this. ;)_

 _As always, your reviews and private messages are very important to me. I greatly appreciate you telling me what specifically you liked, offering polite constructive criticism, and generally giving me your particular impressions of various parts of the story, and ideas of how it is going to go!_

 _Best wishes, and stay safe out there!_


	15. Change of Scenery

_Author's Note:_

 _The horror continues..._

* * *

 **Change of Scenery**

I held back. As infuriating as it was, I stood by and let them continue toying with my machine. I knew that for my plan to work, they would need to think that I was on their side. I waited until the commotion died down, while occasionally taking glances around, noticing that they seemed to be unaccompanied by any guardians. Perhaps they lived close by; there was an apartment complex just a short walk down the block from the restaurant, so maybe they had just walked here from there.

I noticed that, while Foxy was basically incapacitated, and Chica was still operating as usual, Freddy and Bonnie almost seemed to be staring at me. I surmised that it was some residual effect of the strobe lights, and that Chica had just randomly managed to avoid getting the full brunt of it. She was, after all, on the opposite side of the stage.

I went into the kitchen, filled a large pot of water, and set it on an unused burner. I reached over, grabbed a butane lighter, turned on the gas on the stove, and lit it. One of the cooks cast my a strange glance. I answered his unspoken question in very casual tone: "I just need some hot water to load up the hydraulics and the steam cleaner." This was, of course, complete nonsense. The hydraulics take special hydraulic fluid, and the steam cleaner provides its own heat, but I knew that the kitchen staff did not know this, that they knew that I was the "tech guy", and would just accept whatever I said if it sounded technical. I tucked the lighter into my pocket.

While I left the water boiling, I walked around to one of the party rooms, where they were having a birthday party. Someone had conveniently left a big can of silly string on the table near the door, so I just picked it up and headed back to the safe room.

After a quick glance to see that no one was in that corner of the restaurant, I ducked into the hidden alcove. Everything looked about the same as how I had left it. The floors were still dirty, the old arcade cabinets were still broken and dusty. I set the silly string down by the door.

I went back out to the main party area, and noticed that the two kids on whom I had set my sights were still about, though they seemed to have lost some of their caffeine and sugar-induced energy. They had wandered over to a corner just slightly away from most of the general commotion that was normal for the restaurant. The red-haired girl reached out and held the boy's hand. His other hand was still holding the strobe light. The two blushed hard and looked awkward.

Seeing this was nearly enough to make me gag, but I needed to keep glancing back at them from time to time, to look for an opening, to take advantage of an opportunity to get them off by themselves. I imagined that it would come soon, so I started preparations. I went to my workshop, loaded the Spring Bonnie machine onto a hand-truck, put some empty boxes over it to camouflage it a bit, and moved it over to the safe room. I left it tucked in a corner just outside the safe room door.

Something appealed to me about wearing that, while I had my fun with these kids. I am not sure what it was that just tickled me about it, but it had been so much fun last time. I would put it on later.

Then, as I arrived back at the dining room, the moment for which I had been waiting seemed to arrive.

The girl leaned toward the boy as if to kiss him, but the boy pulled away, glancing nervously at the other kids and crew passing close by. He was clearly smitten with this little girl, but embarrassed to be seen kissing in public. He even pulled his hand back from her, nervously running it through his hair. This was my chance.

I walked up to them. "Hey, you two were pretty funny with that strobe light earlier! It certainly gave everyone a good laugh! I am really glad you came today." I put on my sincerest tone of voice.

"Oh... umm... thanks!" The girl replied. The boy just fidgeted awkwardly.

"Are you with someone here today?" I asked politely.

"N-no, just... we live nearby, so it's okay." The girl said.

"Oh, I see." I said with a grin. "You just want some time to yourself without any parents around, sometimes, right?"

The girl simply giggled, and the boy covered his face, but was also clearly grinning widely.

"Well," I said in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning down to them with a friendly smile, "I know a room where you two can be all to yourselves for a bit, if you want, and I promise no one will bother you."

"Yeah!" the girl quickly replied, "I mean, um... you wanna... Teo?" she said.

"Uh... I-I-I guess... Sure, Helen!" The boy replied. I hate people who stutter.

I smiled and led them down the corridor toward the safe room. I ushered them in.

"Now, here you can have this whole room to yourselves. No one else knows about it, so you do not have to worry about anyone interrupting you! Just promise not to tell anyone, okay?"

"Sure, we won't!" The girl replied.

I closed the door behind me as I left them inside, and headed to the kitchen. There, I took a look at the big pot of water I had set there before. It was rapidly boiling, which was perfect. I picked up the pot by the two insulated handles on either side, and I made my way back to the safe room. The recently boiling water was still steaming hot. I set it down just outside the safe room door, and then, with a quick glance around to ensure that no person or camera could see me, I put on the Spring Bonnie head. I was very eager at that point to carry out the coup de grâce. Then, I opened the door, picked up the near-boiling water and walked inside.

The kids were already surprised to hear the door open. Seeing me wearing the Spring Bonnie head further disturbed them. They looked stunned, not knowing what to make of the situation. I closed the door behind me, and decided to startle them a bit further.

"Surprise!" I yelled, hurling the two-hundred degree pot of water at them.

Unfortunately, the Bonnie head and the large pot obscured my view, and it was a bit difficult to aim. I only managed to douse one of the children completely in water. She screamed and clutched her face as the boy stumbled backward away from her. The hot water rapidly cooked through her skin, fusing her hands to her face, muffling the screaming fairly well as her air supply choked off and the pain sent her into shock.

The boy's eyes were fixed in horror at the writhing girl in front of him. He had no idea what to do or even what was happening. It was like a nightmare. None of it made sense, and he was terrified.

Having anticipated the possibility of needing to finish off a survivor, I reached down to my feet and grabbed the can of silly string.

"Oh, my... how unfortunate. I guess that water was a bit too hot for you. I was just trying to prank you, you know, like you were happy to do to my machines."

"Oh, God. OH GOD! HELEN, NO!" The boy screamed, turning to me. "WHAT THE... WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU MONSTER!"

"Oh, you can dish it out, but you cannot take it? Lighten up and take a joke, kiddo." I said, spraying the silly string at his eyes. As he angrily swiped at his eyes and at the air in front of him, he charged me blindly. At that point, I pulled the butane lighter out of my pocket and lit it just in front of the can of silly string.

The remaining silly string immediately ignited into an inferno. My makeshift flamethrower not only burned his skin with the flaming string I was shooting at him, but also by igniting the string that was already covering his face and clothes.

His screaming was a bit different from that of his girlfriend. She had been purely in shock. She had no idea what was going on. She probably died never really knowing what killed her. This boy, on the other hand, died knowing that I was killing him. His screaming was a bit more like crying, I could hear not only pain, not only shock, but also frustration and sorrow in his voice. It certainly served him right.

As he fell to the floor, I pressed my foot on his chest and told him: "You should have learned not to mess with machines that do not belong to you, little whelp. This is all. Your. Fault." At that point, I sprayed burning silly string directly into his face until the screaming stopped, moving my foot out of the way as necessary to prevent getting much of a mess on it.

Cleanup would be another chore, but one I was happy to perform. It was a bit easier to plan and carry out this time. After all, I had had practice. I boxed up the large pieces of trash to be dumped later, and the rest was swept up and steam cleaned. I had completed another day of making the world just a bit quieter and more well-behaved.

That said, people in town eventually took notice of the missing children. There was no evidence indicating that they met any sort of terrible fate _inside_ the restaurant, though it was established that they had been wandering around town without adult supervision. The camera footage showed that I confronted them and led them down a particular corridor toward an exit. As I explained, I saw that they were unescorted, and a bit frustrated with their mischief, I advised them to go home. I then led them to the exit.

The question on which investigators focused at that point was: "Where had they gone after leaving Freddy Fazbear's Pizza?". Even so, the simple association with the restaurant was starting to be a bit more of a problem. Already, there was one previous incident of a pair of children disappearing after some convicted sex offender was in the same restaurant. Now, there was another pair of missing children who were last seen _in_ the restaurant. There was really nothing to indicate that the restaurant was at fault, but average people are simple, so just the association of the restaurant to these incidents was enough to make Asif's job of running the PR machine a bit tougher.

Thankfully, just a few years prior, there had been a great example of how to handle a PR disaster involving a bunch of dead customers.

Asif Albaf came to my workshop one day during the aftermath of this scandal.

"Tylenol." he said to me.

"No, thanks, the noise is bearable for now." I replied.

"Ha, ha, wise-ass. I'm telling you the plan, here. The ' _noise_ ' is bearable because there's so few people out there! Our customers are fucking scared to come here. People are spreading rumors, making up stories, it's awful."

"And how does this pertain to my job as engineer?"

"TYLENOL! LISTEN! I'm making a point, here. By all marketing and PR general wisdom, that company should've been snuffed out like those poor bastards who took the cyanide some psycho put into those bottles. But what happened?"

"I have a feeling that you would like to tell me."

"They went all-out with a public safety campaign, recalled everything, investigated, put little stickers on their bottles and now, this company, like ours, that was never at fault in the first damn place, but that was _associated_ with a bunch of murders, gets to look like a fucking _model_ of professional ethics."

"...And... as an _engineer_... you want me to...?"

"New safety features, Vince. I want these animatronics to represent a new generation of public safety. It wasn't our fault some child molester got into the restaurant, but we can keep them out in the future! Facial recognition. I've read some things about that. I think they have it in the military or something."

"You want... _facial recognition_ software... in the _animatronics_?"

"You're a sharp guy. You can figure it out. Besides, you'll have time. We're shutting down the restaurant for now."

"You _are_ taking this seriously."

"Damn right! I'm _not_ going to let this PR shitstorm beat me! I know _every_ trick in the book! I'm just glad Tylenol wrote that book's most recent page, or I gotta say, I might've tried it differently. Heh! I bet that cyanide killer actually saved us a bunch of money in the long run!"

I sighed heavily, carefully choosing my words. "Facial recognition software is... well, it is not something one person can slap together, and it is not commercially available. What would it even check against?"

"There are public criminal databases. They have pictures. Compare to those."

I cringed. "I... do not... think that will work, sir. The degree of precision these pictures would have to have, I mean... if we had the people walk DIRECTLY in front of the animatronics, and if we had HIGH-QUALITY photographs, and somehow were able to load them ALL into the animatronics' memory at the same time as all of their movement routines... I STILL do not think this would work more often than not. The technology simply is not to that level."

"Well, damn it, Vincent! Who ever said it had to _WORK?_ I fucking told you! This is a PR CAMPAIGN! You think those little stickers on medicine bottles are going to stop some wacked-out psychopath from finding some other way to kill random people? Hell no! No, I don't need military-grade facial-recognition software, I need SECURITY THEATER! I need the ILLUSION of security to get these paranoid idiots over their ILLUSION of danger!" 

"Ah, I see." Asif was showing himself to be less of an idiot than he initially seemed.

"Right, so, I need _something_ tangible, though. I can't _just_ _tell_ people that we have this software. I need notes, records, and maybe even some sort of demonstration. You can set it up however you want to guarantee that it succeeds. If there is an investigation someday, I want it to look like we have this thing working at a cursory glance, and if they dig too deep, I want it to look like we gave it a try, not like it was a fraud from the beginning. Does that make sense?"

"Absolutely. I see what you mean."

"Good. Okay. So, like I said, we're shutting down the restaurant for now. Your animatronics are going to be the star of the fucking show when we have our grand re-opening, got me? This is MISSION CRITICAL."

"I understand."

"Right, now, we're not going to re-open this exact location, though. Too many bad memories. We're gonna buy up a whole new plot on the west side of town, build a whole new space, and put your stuff in there."

"So, since it does not need to _actually_ work, I guess we can use the same old cameras they already have. We will not need any new hardware-"

"Oh, no, we need new hardware. This is ALL about image, got it? Anything that reminds people of the old place is a problem. We need... uh... a whole new 'look-and-feel'. These animatronics were based off of the old suits, so they are big, bulky, and look just a bit creepy to some people, so let's scrap that. We want new, smaller, cuter, more, uh... kid-friendly machines, okay?"

"Are we going to just waste the old machines?"

"No, of course not. Use them for scrap, whatever pieces you can gather out of them and let me know what else you need to order for the construction of the new ones."

"Well, as I get started on the construction, the design can change. It would also help prevent delays if I had some spare parts around, so I strongly recommend ordering plenty of new parts and letting me keep the old machines. They will be useful for scrap but also for reference. Changing the whole shape of these things is going to force me to redesign a lot of things from the ground up."

Asif sighed. I knew he hated to confront high expenses, but I also knew that he was more amped up over this PR situation than I had ever seen him before. He had shifted gears. He was now focused on making this transformation into a resounding success, one that business professors would teach their students in years to come. For the first time since I met him, he really did seem ready to make great investments, not just to cut costs.

"Okay," he finally said. "the re-opening needs to go off without a hitch. Whatever you need to get that done, I will make sure you get it."

You must admit, job security is quite a good thing to have.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _A dose of horror and a dose of backstory progression for you. I hope that you enjoyed it! I look forward to reading your reviews. What do you think of this chapter? What do you think of the story so far? What pieces really stand out to you?_

 _Best wishes!_


	16. New and Improved

_Author's Note:_

 _Hello again! Thank you for your continued readership. I am glad that you have enjoyed the story enough so far to read this far! We are probably most of the way through the story, now, so I anticipate that if you liked it this far, you will like it through the end, and I am committed to finishing this. My last update was delayed due to illness. I do not always know when I will have time to write, but it is always on my to-do list, and I will keep coming back to it when I can until it is done and done well._

 _Heh... or "well done." Ha! Get it?! It's a BURNING joke! Because people BURN! Heh, heh-heh..._

 _Please pardon my previous outburst. I think that this story may be rubbing off on me!_

* * *

 **New and Improved**

"Thank you all so much for choosing to be here." Mark said to his friends. The other animatronics turned to face him in the darkness of the new pizzeria, its fixtures still pristine, as yet untouched by a single customer.

"You are all very brave for standing here with me. We all once wanted things, we all once had purposes and dreams, dreams that _he_ took away from us. Now, in taking that away, _he_ has given us a new purpose. We will take everything away from _him_."

Mark's slender puppet body moved unnaturally as he spoke. As he finished his speech, one small hand clenched into a fist, and with the emotion that surged through him, his strength rose beyond anything of which his body had been capable prior to Mark inhabiting it.

* * *

"It did take some time to fill Mister Albaf's order, even if it _were_ mere theater." Springtrap continued to tell Karl. "I can sometimes be a bit of a perfectionist, and I can find it a bit challenging to put something together that is sub-par. I just reminded myself that the facial recognition is not the primary purpose of the machines, and that, for their _true_ purpose, the machines would be excellent."

"Their... _true_ purpose?" Karl asked hesitantly. "He did say to make them... cuter, or... more kid-friendly or something, right? I somehow have a hard time imagining you designing something cute and kid-friendly."

"Ha. Well, I was responsible for designing the _real_ mechanical aspect, the software, the range of movement, you understand. Someone over in some marketing department was responsible for designing the actual outward appearance. I received some... 'drawings'... in the mail at the pizzeria. These were... 'concept art' pieces, I suppose you could say. Apparently someone's idea of what would put the children at ease. They looked like something out of some children's cartoon. They were smaller, brightly colored, and rounded. It did not matter. Complying with that part of the order was as simple as crafting an outer shell for the machines that could be painted as needed."

When speaking about his engineering work, Karl noted silently to himself, Springtrap could almost pass for "normal". His voice, while still a bit haughty, seemed to lack the same sadistic undertones as when he spoke about the children. Springtrap, in this moment, sounded almost like some sort of mechanical lecturer.

Springtrap continued, "Most of the software for movement, balance and tracking was salvageable from the previous models. I had written the code to be robust enough that it was a fairly simple matter to adjust a few configurable variables to accommodate the lower centers of gravity and lighter, smaller bodies."

Karl was tempted to allow Springtrap to continue all night about the mechanical aspects of his work. It was decidedly more comfortable than listening to Springtrap talking about the murder of innocent children. Karl realized, however, that he was not here for an engineering course. He was here to learn about Springtrap, his history, and how he came to be... the _thing_ that he was in that body, that ghost in the machine that defied modern science... science which Karl was determined to advance beyond anything anyone outside that bunker could have anticipated.

"Okay, Spr-... Vincent."

"Hmm? Yes, Karl? What is it that you _really_ want to hear?"

"What... what happened at the new place? You put new machines to work, and... what then?"

"Why, what do you mean, Karl? I was _telling_ you the story. I was telling part of it, anyway. Is there a _specific_ part on which you wish for me to focus?"

"You know what I want to hear."

"Ohh, yes, but I _also_ want to hear something, Karl. I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you tell me what it is that would make you happier than listening to my engineering notes."

Karl sighed and muttered, half to himself, "Jesus, how many more even _are_ there?"

"What was that? Hmm? How many more _what?_ "

Karl steeled himself and spoke slowly and deliberately into the microphone. "How. Many. More. Children. Did. You. Kill?"

"Thank you, Karl. Just embrace it. You do not need to be ashamed of your morbid curiosity with me, of all people. Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"Okay, I _said it,_ now HOW MANY?!"

"Just one. There was just one more. Shall I skip right to the _good_ part?"

Karl felt his stomach turning, but he steeled himself with the belief that it would be over soon. "Yes... please."

"Oh, ho, ho! Since you asked _so_ nicely, I would certainly love to grant your request, Karl, as much as I know that you would enjoy it. However, I cannot exactly skip much. For you to understand, I must explain how I got to know this last little boy and the additional circumstances I had to manage."

* * *

I had finally finished work on the animatronics. They were built and they were tested. It was a feat beyond anything I had been able to accomplish before, and while my own brilliance was a necessary component of that, the fact that Asif was finally starting to loosen the purse strings in response to the PR disaster he was managing was a great help.

We even staged a "demonstration". Out in front of the new restaurant, prior to the grand re-opening, we held a little press-conference. Mister Albaf spoke of his "deep and sincere" desire to protect the children of this city, in whatever way that he could. He made sure to spin his whole perspective as a supererogatory gesture of altruism, rather than an attempt to make up for any wrongdoing or negligence.

"Now, our great police force is doing a wonderful job of keeping us safe, but as great as they are, they cannot be everywhere at once, and sometimes dangerous people go where they are not welcome. I thought about my own kids-"

I stopped to wonder whether or not Asif Albaf even _had_ any children.

"-and I realized that... if there was _anything_ I could do to keep them safer, especially in my own restaurant, I _had_ to do it! Which is why I am proud to announce a partnership between Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and law enforcement. Our new animatronics are not only state-of-the-art, not _only_ charming and friendly pals, but _also_ watchful protectors! Watch how our new facial recognition software works in action!"

At this point, several employees and volunteers from the press were ushered past the singing, dancing machines while Albaf continued speaking.

"All of these people are good, kind folks, and Freddy and the gang sure do know it, because they are all connected to a criminal database of known offenders! Now, we would never bring an _actual_ criminal here to our restaurant, but to show you what these guys can do, we have, just for the sake of this demonstration, added Officer Martinson to the database, _just for today,_ as if he were a convicted child abuser. Officer Martinson, would you please?"

At this point, the officer moved down the line with the rest of the employees and volunteers, as most of the press watched intently to see how the animatronics would react. Naturally, Asif had told me to leave nothing to chance. The facial recognition software was, of course, a sham, but the machines could recognize the human form in a general sense. When the officer reached a specific point in the parking lot where this was taking place, Asif surreptitiously touched a button in his pocket, and the machines knew to confront whatever figure happened to be standing there at the time.

Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, and Chica immediately converged on Officer Martinson, gently blocking him from the rest of the crowd. Freddy's tone changed from his silly cartoon voice to a stern, commanding tone. "You need to leave. You're not welcome here. The police have been notified." Freddy said.

The crowd ate it up. Asif continued: "With facial recognition software, FREDDY FAZBEAR'S PIZZA, IS NOW THE SAFEST PLACE OUR CHILDREN COULD EVER GO!" Cheers rose up from the crowd and camera flashes filled the view. It was a good thing that it was a bright day outside, drowning out most of the glare from the camera flashes. Otherwise, I would worry about the animatronics' ability to handle all that flashing.

Asif Albaf then turned it over to Leonard Hawkins, "head of security" to answer some other questions.

Asif came back inside the restaurant at that point and came straight to my workshop and closed the door.

"Did you see that? Did you fucking _see_ _that?!_ " Asif asked me excitedly. I had honestly never seen him half this happy before.

"Oh, hot damn! I tell you, they're gonna come here in _droves_! Parents are gonna use this place as an alternative to _babysitting_ , and you _know_ what a racket that is! Oh, yeah, you don't have kids, so maybe you don't, but believe me, it's a fucking racket."

Huh. So I guess he _did_ have kids.

"Damn, I love you, Tylenol! What a rush! We just took a fucking PR _nightmare_ over security and turned it all on its _head_! Ha! People used to look at us and ask 'Isn't that the place those kids disappeared?' But now- NOW! You know what people are gonna be asking when they look at Chuck E. Cheese?"

"What?" I asked, playing along.

Asif's tone got lower, almost reverent. "They're gonna ask... 'why don't _they_ have facial recognition software like Freddy FUCKING FAZBEAR'S?'" Asif then began giggling. He stood up, walked over to the doorway, and then slammed his fist into it. "HA! WITH THE BONUS I GET AFTER THIS YEAR'S SALES, I'LL-" He seemed to catch himself finally. "Ahem... uh, well, that's something I'll work out on my own time."

Asif straightened his suit and turned back to me smiling, but no longer maniacally giddy. "As for you, I couldn't have done it without you." His grin widened into a smirk I found suspicious. "And now that we have the machines, well, we need to recoup our costs."

I gritted my teeth and waited for what was about to happen.

"We blew our whole technical R&D budget for the entire fiscal year in this first quarter for your new products. I hope that you enjoyed all the money we paid you while the restaurant was closed and we weren't collecting any revenue."

I swallowed hard. I did not think that he would dare fire me with what I knew, after what I had seen, but he clearly was getting ready to screw me over.

"Your services as engineer are no longer required, BUT!"

Asif apparently had more to say before I responded.

"but... in the interest of our new security system, and in the interest of maintaining confidential trade secrets... I have another position to offer you."

I had a bad feeling about this.

"How would you like to be... a security guard?"

"You mean... like Leonard?" I asked hesitantly.

"Oh, yeah! Ha, except you'll be _reporting_ to Leonard. And, of course, it doesn't pay as much as an engineer position, but a guy like you probably doesn't have a whole lot of options."

The thought of answering to that sniveling, ignorant little shit Leonard almost made me vomit.

"Now, I know how you... don't like to be in the middle of a bunch of kids, so how about you take the _night shift?_ " Asif asked me. "No customers, no kids, but maybe your _machines_ can keep you company."

I suspected that he was trying to add insult to injury by putting me in the night shift, something most employees dislike, but he was absolutely right, actually. I would prefer being alone to being around all those kids.

"Sure." I replied simply.

"So glad to hear it." Asif said, smirking.

There was one more thing that he didn't even need to say, because it was clear to both of us. He was making a power play over me. We each had something we could hold over the other's head, which is why he needed to offer me a job to keep me on the payroll, but he also knew that he did not need to make it a sweet offer at all. I could not afford to refuse his offer and try to go anywhere else. I had been working for Fazbear Entertainment for years. If I did not put that on my resume, no one would hire me because of my... personality issues and because of the gap in my work history. If I _did_ put that on my resume, new employers would call Fazbear Entertainment to verify, and Asif Albaf would _not_ give me a good review. He would say anything to discredit me if I left. That is what his sickening smirk meant. I knew it, and he knew that I knew it.

"Once we open, I want you coming in from six PM to six AM. You can check in with Leonard when you get in. He'll get you set up in the security office at the south end of the main hall."

"The... 'office'?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, it's this new, modern, open-air kinda architectural design! Get with the 80's, man! Doors are so 'confining', it's bad 'feng shui' or whatever the fuck the hippies are on about these days. Whatever. It was the architect's choice, and it was cheap enough, so. Anyway, don't worry. There's nothing fun in that room, anyway, so you shouldn't have to worry about annoying kids wandering in there too much! Ha!"

Asif Albaf strolled out of the room. He could not possibly be happier. He clearly lived for this kind of work. You know, deceiving crowds of gullible people and using strong-arm negotiation tactics to maximize the company's bottom line. I shook my head, but I had to admire the fellow. He would make Niccolò Machiavelli quite proud.

The grand re-opening went off without a hitch, as everyone was expecting. I did, however, have to deal with a rather annoying and... inquisitive little fellow. A boy of about fourteen or fifteen years came in and, rather different from the other children, he seemed less interested in the new animatronics, less interested in the new games in the arcades, and more interested in asking questions.

I barely noticed him the first time I saw him. I just happened to notice that one of the children was interacting with the staff more than with the games, which was a bit of an anomaly, but I did not think much of it at the time.

At any rate, the restaurant was closing at ten o'clock for its first night, and I was getting the rundown from Leonard.

"Uh, so, how you liking it so far?"

"It is fine." I lied in response.

"Uh, well, it's nice not to be cooped up in that stuffy workshop anymore, right?"

"Uh-huh." I said, moving over toward the desk in the security office.

"Okay, so, yeah, uh, here's the security desk, um... you've got your camera feeds here, and a flashlight, and, ummm... I guess that's about it. Yeah, should be a breeze!"

"Great. Thank you so much for the helpful introduction." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, sure! No problem! I mean, it's cool that you decided to cross-train in security! You're quite the jack-of-all-trades, huh, Vince?"

"I believe that I have it from here, Leonard. You have a good night."

"Uh, sure! You too! I'll be by at six to relieve you!"

I suppose that I should have brought a book or perhaps a crossword puzzle, but I find those horribly dull. I surmised that I was probably going to just have to be alone with my thoughts, contemplating my options for the next day while I sat in that chair and wandered around the restaurant.

I was wrong about how boring it was going to be. It _was_ boring for the first couple of hours, at least. Then midnight rolled around, and things changed. The machines started to... behave abnormally. No... no, I do not think that it was the _machines_ at all, really.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _I hope that you are still enjoying the story! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! I look forward to seeing what specifically jumped out at you, what you think about the path the story is taking, and any constructive criticism you have to offer._

 _I also just want to give a big, heartfelt thank you to all of you. I want to express my gratitude to every one of you, not just for reading my story, but for being a part of the Five Nights at Freddy's fandom, and for contributing to it in your own small way. Even if all you do is read stories and you do not create any art of your own, you make this community better by being there. The reasons we writers exist is for you, the readers. Without you, there would be less reason for us to write. :)_


	17. Night One

_Author's Note:_

 _Welcome back! I hope that you are continuing to enjoy the story. I am excited for upcoming climaxes! Thank you for your continued readership!_

* * *

 **Night One**

As I sat in that disgusting security office long after everyone else had left, I contemplated my next moves. I wondered about my options for finding alternative employment. I wondered about ways that I could, perhaps, extort Asif Albaf for a greater salary, but I ultimately surmised that, given how deeply intertwined our roles were in the various schemes of Fazbear Entertainment, and given his superior resources and experience with manipulating the PR machine, it would take quite a careful plan to achieve enough leverage to extort him without exposing myself to even greater liability than what I would be threatening to use against him.

I took a little walk around the dark, closed restaurant while I attempted to brainstorm a way to create some sort of situation that would implicate him without implicating myself, or perhaps a way to establish myself as an innocent whistle-blower.

I was pacing around the restaurant as I thought about these things, and it was during this pacing that I started to notice that a few of my machines had noticeably moved from their original positions. They had not gone far, but they were not supposed to be moving around at all. I started to wonder what could have... _possessed_ them to glitch out in such a way.

I decided to put my plans to extort Albaf into the back of my mind. Often, inspiration strikes when one is not consciously focused on a particular task, and I was a bit concerned about the animatronics, anyway.

The first one I noticed was the new Freddy. It had left the stage and was standing in the main hallway. I stood in front of it and pushed it back toward the stage. In addition to getting it back where it belonged, I was testing its automatic motor controls. When shoved, it should be able to detect the weight imbalance and move its legs to walk in the direction it needs in order to remain upright as long as possible.

As I started pushing, it started walking back, which I supposed was a good sign. At least that aspect of its motor functions was still intact. Then it laughed at me.

"Ho, ho, ho!"

I was startled. I had not been expecting its voice to activate, but I knew that it was experiencing some sort of errors, so I just surmised that this was another symptom of whatever was happening to it. The voice was only supposed to activate during the daytime during normal showtime hours.

As we approached the stage, it continued laughing, and then the laughter became deeper, like the voice playback was slowing down, lowering the pitch of the laughter.

"HOO HOO, HOOO!" It bellowed in its creepy way.

I finally got Freddy back into position and sighed. It remained still for the few seconds that I watched it intently. I wondered what had triggered its movement out of place in the first place. I turned to look at the other new animatronics and was unnerved for the second time that night.

Bonnie and Chica were both staring directly at me. They were, of course, supposed to track movement to focus on their audience, but that was only when they were singing and dancing. At this point, they were looking at me, but they were neither singing nor dancing.

I stepped off the stage, but their gaze did not follow. They remained focused on the spot where I had been standing.

I checked my watch. It was 2:00 AM already. I decided to head back to the security office. The robots would need to be ready to go in the morning, so I did not exactly have time to break them down and rework them right then and there. Even if I _did_ have time, as much as I hate to see my creations malfunctioning, I would not want to give Fazbear Entertainment free labor. I was, after all, no longer making an engineer's salary.

As I continued to think of it, I decided that this little malfunction was likely a good thing for me. Perhaps I could use this as a tool to negotiate my way back to being an engineer instead of a night guard.

I wandered around a bit more as I let my thoughts wander. I went over to the prize room and found the old music box they had hooked up to the puppet-like marionette machine that popped out of the box. I was surprised that they had decided to keep using it. It was not a machine that I had designed. It had been there for a long time before I ever got there. It was a bit more complicated than a simple Jack-in-the-box spring-loaded toy, but I had not had any reason to study it closely.

I absentmindedly wound the music box while I looked around the room. I opened the box that contained the puppet, and there I saw its creepy face, its whole body crumpled up inside the box, ready to expand whenever... well, I was not entirely sure what it was that triggered its appearance. I imagined that it might have already been disabled.

Still holding the music box as it played its uptempo music, I walked over to the Kid's Cove area, which was just south of the prize corner. There, I beheld the awful, wretched mangle that the stupid kids in the area had already made of my new Foxy machine. They had taken pieces off of it and put it back together in the stupidest, most inane way imaginable. It was a disgusting heap of parts that still fit together for no clear reason.

I grit my teeth and clenched my hands tightly around that music box. Whatever kids had done this to my brand-new Foxy were lucky that I had not been there to see them, or they would be just as dead as the other children who had gotten in my way, who had dared to fuck with my machines.

I squeezed the music box so tightly, it stopped playing. I was holding the hand-crank so that it could no longer unwind. I turned back to the prize corner to head back to the main hall, and that is when I saw the puppet.

It was standing in the doorway facing directly at me. In the brief moment that I first saw it, I could almost swear that I saw pinpoints of light in its eyes glowing. I was so shocked, I dropped the music box. As I let the music box go, it began playing again, at which point, the puppet moved back into its box and folded back up.

Rattled as I was by this, I looked into the box again. I picked up the puppet. There were no lights in its eyes, and I could not even see how it was able to move around on its own. It had no obvious cameras, no obvious guidance system, just a few joints and motors, none of which seemed to be moving anymore.

I picked the music box back up and set it down on the counter, allowing it to continue to play. My pulse and breath rate were elevated. I started to wonder if I had been hallucinating, if I had eaten something bad, or if I was suffering some other medical ailment.

I walked back to the security office and took a look at the cameras. Everything seemed to still be in place. I took a deep breath and waited. Nothing else unusual happened that night. I was still unsure how much of that had somehow been my imagination.

* * *

"I would have more to deal with the next day, however, and I think you, of all people, Karl, will believe me when I say that it was not my imagination. So sorry to leave you in suspense, Karl, but I believe that our time is just about up."

Karl checked his phone, and just as Springtrap had suggested, their time was almost up. It was 5:59.

"I see." Karl replied flatly. Honestly, though, he was excited. This portion of the story, an account of the spiritual possession of the machines really went to the heart of his research. He could hardly wait to hear more.

"Have a nice day, Karl."

"Um, yeah. You, too, Vincent."

"I will see you soon." Springtrap declared, and then shut down.

Karl found that final statement a bit discomforting, but had just about grown accustomed to Springtrap being creepy, so Karl thought little of it.

Karl rode the elevator back to the surface and thought about the day ahead of him.

He wasn't too tired just yet, perhaps due to his anticipation, but this project had been taking him longer than he had originally anticipated. He simply could not run himself ragged like this day after day, working three shifts, spending every day working in the lab and interviewing both Salina and Springtrap.

Karl did not want to ditch the lab again so soon after already feigning illness to get out of work so recently. He decided that it was only fair that he spread around the neglect. Today, he decided, he would cancel on Salina. He would apologize, make up some excuse, and get some rest after work at the lab before heading back to the bunker. After all, things were just getting pretty good with Springtrap's story, and Salina would likely still be there later, anyway. Though it would be good to hear it from her directly someday, Karl had a fair guess what happened next at Fazbear's Fright, so he was not as keen on seeing her that day as he was about hearing from Springtrap again. On further reflection, Karl also just felt uneasy about leaving Springtrap completely unattended for a whole night. It shouldn't make a difference, being chained up and all, but Karl just had a gut feeling about it.

Karl got into his car, pulled out his phone, and started messaging Salina.

[morning! :) cant make it 2 nite. family coming in to visit.]

After a minute, Salina replied.

[OK Can I see u tomorrow?]

Karl thought about his plans and decided that it would probably be unfair to skip Salina two days in a row. In addition, it would be necessary to cultivate their cordial relationship until he had gotten the whole story from her. He knew that they were close to the end, now, and it would be unfortunate for things to go sour between them now.

[U Bet! :)]

Karl drove back into town and got to the campus where his lab was located. He got there early because he had not driven home in between. Anticipating his time to relax later, he didn't bother to find time to nap. He was a bit too keyed up from his last interview with Springtrap anyway, so he just walked over to the nearby fitness center and used their shower to freshen up before heading back into the lab.

* * *

The children wept in bodies that could produce no tears, in voices that no living person could hear.

"We tried, Mark! We tried so hard!" Nils cried from the body of the new Bonnie machine while his older sister, Hanna, occupying the new Freddy animatronic, attempted to comfort him.

"These aren't the bodies we're used to..." Helen muttered. She had gotten the new Chica body, but they were all better off than Teo, who struggled to even twitch inside the mangled Foxy body. He remained silent.

"I'm sorry." Mark said finally. "I didn't expect having to switch bodies. I know this isn't what we planned, but... we are here. We are together. We are together for a **purpose**!"

Everyone remained fairly quiet as Mark continued to contemplate their situation.

"These bodies have more limitations than I realized." Mark continued. "I... couldn't stop him, either, but... we can keep trying! Use your emotion! Pour yourself into it! That's what... the one that trained me... taught me."

Nils's sobbing abated as the rest of the children looked to Mark for guidance, for hope.

"We're all already doing the impossible, already doing things that... _shouldn't_ be possible with these bodies... and we _can_ because we _want to!_ Because we **want to so bad!** Let that drive you! Don't worry about _how_ to move your new body! Don't worry about not being able to _see clearly_ or _**anything!**_ " Mark shouted.

The children were beginning to feel inspired again.

"There is only one thing. ONE THING to think! **KILL THE PURPLE GUY!** As long as we hold onto that with everything you can... we can do it. We can do it! Even using new, unfamiliar bodies, or even if we have to go back to the old ones! They're missing parts, and they're broken down, but it **DOESN'T MATTER!** All that matters is your will."

* * *

Salina was just getting up and was excited to see a text from Karl, though she couldn't help but feel disappointed to learn that he couldn't see her. He had specifically asked about seeing her tonight the last time they were together, she had said "yes", and he had said "okay."

Salina admonished herself for being selfish. "He made a mistake" she told herself. "It happens to all of us from time to time." She continued. "And besides, it's only one more night, anyway."

She also didn't know how to feel about the fact that she was getting a little worked up over him changing plans on her. She did not like to think that she was getting too clingy to a guy to whom she had only first started talking a week or so ago.

"Okay, so I'm excited." She confessed to herself with a grin as she got dressed. "I'm allowed to be a little excited. I just need to keep my head on my shoulders and be reasonable. Don't get my hopes up. Maybe next time I should ask him more about himself. I've spent all this time talking about myself. I need to get to know _him_ better, honestly."

Salina started heading to her first class of the day. It was an artistic design course. She was not so interested in it, however, as she was in the film studies course that she had planned later in the day. She was starting to rethink giving up on making movies. She was glad that she hadn't completely dropped out of the program after her... issues with Fazbear's Fright.

* * *

"You can't get away, Karl." Springtrap's voice echoed through the darkened corridor.

Karl panted heavily running down the hall. He spoke to no one in particular: "No, I'm- I'm shutting this down. Putting an end to this."

"HA, HA, HA, HA, HAA! Since when were _you_ the one in control, _**child?!**_ " Springtrap's retort sounded closer than ever.

"I- I have to stop this. I have to stop this!" Karl yelled as the yellow paw clamped down over his face.

"YOU CAN'T" Springtrap said as darkness fell over Karl's vision.

* * *

Karl woke up and sighed. "Mmm, that same stupid nightmare..." Karl had hoped to sleep a little better since he had given himself some extra time to sleep instead of interviewing Salina. Karl was no longer particularly disturbed by it, though. He was starting to look forward to the end of this project. Gathering his data up and... putting an end to Springtrap. That would likely help with those nightmares.

It was about time to head back to the bunker. He still had the story of Springtrap's last victim to hear. He also was very interested to see what there was to see about how the other animatronics interacted with Vincent at night and... how Vincent eventually _became_ the abomination Karl knew as "Springtrap", became like the other possessed animatronics... at least in some way.

Karl passed the time playing offline games on his mobile phone in the few minutes left before midnight.

"Good morning, Vincent."

"Good morning, Karl. Where were we?"

"You left off after talking about your first night as night security for Freddy Fazbear's new location."

"Ah, yes. Well, you see I was not the only one trying to figure out what was going on. I just happened to be the one most knowledgeable about it all."

* * *

I got in the next evening, and I headed over to the security office to relieve Leonard. He had a few words to share with me first, though.

"Hello-hello, there, Vince!"

"Good evening, Leonard."

"Hey, uh, I just wanted to let you know, we have this kiddo coming around, um... his name's actually 'Freddy', isn't that neat? Uh, anyway, he's been asking questions about um... about the kids that disappeared, uh... back at the old location. I guess he fancies himself a... like a junior detective or something! It's actually kinda cute! Ha, ha! Um, yeah, so, anyway... uh, it's _probably_ not too good for him to talk too much about all that stuff around our new, um, customers, I mean, y'know, we don't really want to remind folks of stuff like that, we, uh... have to maintain our _image_ and stuff."

I considered how Asif's training had worn off on Leonard. He was thinking more like a business man. He continued:

"I mean, he's a great kid 'n all! Don't get me wrong, just, y'know, humor him and make him feel special and all, but, just, um... if he talks to you, if you could maybe... I dunno, find a way to help him to not... ask patrons about this stuff so much? Yeah... that'd be, um... an improvement."

"Do not worry, Leonard. I will take care of it."

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _Oh, you guys, I am so excited! Thank you for making this long journey with me. It has been tough at times to keep at it, to keep writing even when I feel a bit burnt out, or a bit tired of FNAF in general. This most recent delay has come as I have struggled with stressors from both my employer and my personal life, struggling with depression that I though I had beaten once and for all years ago, but I keep going, and I get through it, and then I feel the inspiration again, and then I take control of myself again! I get back to writing as part of my recovery, and the words just come pouring out!_

 _Anyway, we do not have a whole lot longer to go. As always, I greatly appreciate your reviews, your messages, your statements about what stood out to you, your expectations, the things you liked, and any constructive criticism you have to offer! Thanks so much for reading!_


	18. Curiosity Kills

_Author's Note:_

 _Oh, boy! Junior detective Freddy is on the case! You bet your buttons he'll get to the bottom of this!_

* * *

 **Curiosity Kills**

This little Freddy was a slim Black boy with short, curly, black hair. He was about fourteen years old. Just old enough to think that he knew everything, to think that he was invincible. Still young enough to be absolutely unbearable, but old enough to think that he was all grown up and ready to take on the real world.

"So..." he said as he sauntered up to my desk.

"Can I help you?" I replied.

"The name's Freddy Pryor." the kid said, extending his hand.

Keeping my hands folded on the desk in front of me, I replied, "How can I help you, Mister Pryor?"

The kid was taking himself pretty seriously. I decided to play along for the time being, at least to see if there were any reason for me to be concerned. At least if he spent his time talking to me, he would not be bothering anyone else, and that would keep Leonard off of my back.

"You the security guy here, mister...?"

"Blakeslee. Vincent Blakeslee. Yes, I work security in the evenings and at night."

"So, I suppose you heard about those kids that disappeared back at the old location, huh?" The boy said, pulling a worn little notepad and pencil from his pocket.

"Yes, I _heard_ about them. Quite unfortunate that people are _still_ hearing about them."

"Oh? What do you mean by _that?_ "

"I mean that nothing anyone can do now can help those kids, so we might as well move on with our lives and let people enjoy their restaurant in peace without being reminded of past tragedies."

"Well, _that's_ interesting."

"What?"

"You seem convinced that the kids are all dead. What makes you so sure Helen and Teo are dead?"

"Well, that is usually what happens with missing kids, unfortunately."

"So you just write them off, just like that? As a member of the security here, were you involved in the investigation to find out where they went?"

"No, I was not involved _as a member of security here._ " This was technically true, since I had only just recently become a security guard rather than an engineer.

"I wonder why that is... Oh, so was Mister Leonard Hawkins leading that investigation?"

This child was becoming increasingly annoying.

"No, kiddo, there was no ' _investigation_ ' here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, because _nothing happened_ here."

" _Nothing?!_ Helen Gilliam and Teo Alessandri were last seen in your restaurant."

"That does not mean-"

"Hanna and Nils Horn were hunted by their killer _in your restaurant!_ "

"And he was caugh-"

"Mark Ayers was _found dead in your dumpster_! What else do you know about these? You're in security; I think you know more than you're letting on!"

The kid was getting too loud. He was digging up events from quite a while ago. This was not going well.

He presumably had some hare-brained theory that diverged from the more obvious narrative that the police were using. He thought that by badgering me, he would dig up the truth. It was quite ironic that he was right, since he had no reason to be. He certainly seemed to have watched far too many detective dramas. Once that thought occurred to me, however, I realized that I could use that to my advantage.

I stood silent for a moment, looked around, then leaned down and whispered to the boy.

"You are right. There is more, but..." I looked around again. "I cannot tell you here. Not now. It is not safe. There are too many people who could overhear."

Freddy's eyes widened. He was practically shaking with anticipation and excitement for having gotten a "big break" in his "case".

I continued whispering to Freddy: "This goes deeper than you know, Mister Pryor. I cannot be seen speaking to you about this. If I were going to talk to you... I would need to be able to trust you."

Freddy was breathing more heavily, his hands gripped his notepad more tightly. He had not even bothered to write anything on it since he started talking to me. "Oh, you can trust me, Mister Blakeslee! I promise!" he said in a loud, raspy, nervous whisper, nodding vigorously.

"Well, maybe... if you come back in five days, after midnight, when no one else is around. I will be here. You must tell no one that you are coming here! I have to trust that no one ever finds out that you heard _any_ of this from me!"

Freddy gulped, took a deep breath, and replied in a serious tone that can only come from a child who feels called upon to meet an adult challenge. "I give you my word, Mister Blakeslee. I will keep it a secret, if you tell me what you know."

"Alright." I whispered back, then breathed a sigh of feigned relief. "And I would advise you to not bring this up to anyone else until we meet, okay? You... do not know whom you can trust."

"Yes! Of course!" Freddy whispered back. His right hand holding his notepad was shaking, and he walked away from the security office. He nervously ran his left hand across his hair as he walked out of the restaurant.

I sat back down in my chair and started to ponder how I would deal with the kid when he finally showed up. I had the rest of my first week as a guard ahead of me to make a bit of a plan.

Each night that week, I got to work planning and getting everything ready for my guest's arrival. I can tell you it was a very enjoyable way to pass the time. Security work can be boring with nothing to do, but now I was getting quite excited. I knew better than to go out looking for targets; I did not want to draw needless attention to myself, but when someone gets in my way, causes problems for me, one can hardly blame me for removing them. As annoying as I had found the boy, I felt myself rather enraptured with anticipation. As midnight of the last night of the week approached, my heart was beating heavily, my breathing quickened. Surely you can relate. Is it not wonderful to put a plan together, to set the pieces up and then watch them come down?

Midnight came around, and I had managed to put everything into place in time. The robots had started to stare at me again, but I knew to expect it this time, so I did not pay it much attention.

Freddy knocked on the back door, and I let him in.

"Okay, mister Blakeslee." Freddy took a deep breath. He was clearly as excited with anticipation as I was! How fun this was going to be! "What is it that you need to tell me?"

I looked shakily left and right. "Are you sure you told no one that you were coming here? No one knows that you are here tonight, right? We cannot have this meeting if you cannot guarantee my safety."

"No, sir. No one knows. It's just between you and me, I promise. I give you my word. Now, please, what can you tell me about those missing kids?"

"Well..." I paused. "I think it best if I _show_ you." I led him back to the safe room of this new location. Knowing how to look for its identifying features, the little telltale marks, it was easy to discover when I was working to set up my trap earlier that night. I had to stifle a chuckle as I considered the irony of that name "safe room". Well, it was certainly extra safe for _me_. No place can be truly safe for more than one person at a time, as I see it, and this room was certainly _my_ safe room.

The hidden nature of the room added to the mystery and intrigue, and little Freddy eagerly stepped inside.

There, in the far right corner of the room, was the last spring-loaded animatronic/suit hybrid prototype that I had built before the whole debacle with the "sister location". We had called it "Golden Freddy".

"Over there." I said, pointing to the machine.

Confused, Freddy walked up to his namesake and peered inside the empty suit. "Is there a clue in here? I... don't get it."

My heart was racing. This was the last moment at which my plan could still go sideways on me.

"If you get inside, put on the suit... you will be able to see. You will see the answers you seek. You will see who the killer is."

Eager to see what I was talking about, Freddy climbed into the machine, which locked closed around him. Freddy then looked out through the face of the suit. He stood there looking back at me, looking for the clue that he thought lay inside the suit. He saw me, and at this point, I could not help but start to grin.

"What is it? What's the clue?"

The boy was already dead, and he had no idea. I had made a suite of modifications to the machine while I was waiting for him. It was taking considerable willpower to keep my composure. I was so giddy, I wanted to start laughing right then, but I wanted this moment to be perfect.

I sighed deeply.

"You wanted to know what happened to those kids?"

I stepped closer to him.

"You wanted to know who the killer is?" I continued.

I stepped right up to the front of the Golden Freddy suit, putting my face right against the face of the suit, looking right into his eyes.

I whispered:

"It's me."

His eyes widened, his face shook, and he immediately tried to move, which, of course, was impossible. I had disabled the manual controls. He was not going to move that suit one inch. Neither was it possible anymore to open the suit from inside.

"Wh-what are you talking about?!" His voice raised and cracked.

"Congratulations, junior detective Pryor." I replied calmly. "You did it. You actually did it. You cracked the cases that have eluded the real police for so long. You solved the mystery!"

"Y-you!"

"That is correct. I killed them all. I slit Mark's throat. I stabbed Hanna. I crushed Nils. I boiled Helen, and I burned Teo. I am a serial killer."

Freddy continued thrashing inside his suit.

"Wh-why?! Why would you DO THIS?!"

"Mmm... because I hated them... because they annoyed me, because they got in my way."

Freddy seemed speechless for a moment.

I continued: "Oh, my goodness, it does feel good to confess. It feels better than I imagined! Thank you so much for taking my confession, detective."

Freddy tried to stifle a cry, then retorted: "Y-you won't get away with this!"

I could not resist any longer. I backed away from the suit and let myself laugh out loud. It was simply too absurd not to laugh.

"AH, HA HA HA HA HA! WON'T GET AWAY WITH IT?! I ALREADY GOT AWAY WITH IT!"

"Th-the police will-"

"The police are idiots, silly child! They went after red herrings, they look for things that are out of place. I am good at keeping things in their place, keeping things in conformity with people's expectations."

"No, NO! Someone will- someone will find out!"

"You, my boy, are the only one who has _ever_ found out, and you only found out because _I_ told you. Besides, who is going to come here looking for you? Who knows you are even here, hmm?" I got back up against the suit, looking my latest victim right in the eyes as I spoke. "No one" I whispered. "No one is coming to save you. No one is even going to have any idea to look here to find out what happened to you when you never come home."

"No... no!" Freddy began crying.

I continued. "You made sure of that, indeed. You made sure that there was no trail, no evidence, no way for anyone to catch me. This is all your fault, you know, Freddy?"

Freddy screamed in rage as he struggled to move the heavy machine, but with the hydraulics deactivated, there was nothing his weak body could do to move that great mechanical bear.

"HELP! HEEEELP! PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Freddy called.

I was enjoying this immensely. I put my hand to my ear, as if to listen for someone responding to his desperate cries.

After a few seconds, I replied "...but nobody came." Here I paused to let the silence sink in for a moment. "Nobody else is going to get to see you die. I must say, Freddy, I have enjoyed this time together very much. It is such a shame that it must come to an end so soon. Ha ha! Do not worry, though, Freddy, I have had so much fun tonight, I think that I will start killing again! I had forgotten how much fun it could be! Yes, that is right. Because of you, not only will I get away with murder again, but I will kill more, all because of _your_ foolhardy curiosity."

Freddy reverted back from fear and sorrow to rage. "No. NO! I WON'T LET YOU! I'LL STOP YOU! WHATEVER IT TAKES!"

I laughed again. It was so obvious that there was nothing that he could do, I did not even bother to point it out. I just reached over to the hand-crank planted firmly in the socket on the bear's right thigh. "You know, Freddy, I always wanted to see what it would look like for someone to get stuck in this machine when it transforms back from a suit to a robot. Shall we find out together?"

I removed the hand-crank. I was not disappointed.

I had already released the spring-locks before Freddy arrived so that the hand-crank was the only piece still keeping the whole contraption in suit mode. Immediately, cross-beams and rotors pierced and crushed Freddy's body with a loud crunch. A small amount of blood squirted out of the eyes of the mask, landing on my purple uniform. Freddy did not die instantly, either. He was gasping, struggling to maintain some sort of consciousness in his last moments. Little tiny whimpers occasionally escaped amid the tortured gurgling as he attempted to force air in and out of his rapidly failing and torn lungs. A few seconds more, and he went silent. Blood had pooled around the base of the robot.

I sighed in exquisite satisfaction. I had not anticipated that confessing to him would be so satisfying, seeing him squirm, making sure that he knew the true magnitude of how royally he had FUCKED UP would feel as fantastic as it did.

I strolled out of the safe room, heading over to the kitchen to get a large container of water to load up the steam cleaner. It certainly was going to take a while to clean, but I could think of no better way to pass the time that I had to spend in the restaurant anyway. This was much better than simply sitting at the security desk staring into blank space.

I had taken two steps down the hall toward the kitchen when a flash of movement caught my eye, startling me badly. I fell backward in shock just as a pink and white blur passed overhead. Trying to catch my breath, I looked up. I could hear a scratchy static, as if from an untuned radio, and there, just barely visible in the rather dark restaurant, clinging to the ceiling, was an animatronic. It turned its head toward me.

It was the mangled remnant of the new Foxy I had crafted. I could not explain how it was on the ceiling. There was nothing even close to that sort of functionality in its programming. In its mangled state, it should not have even been able to stand!

I fumbled for my flashlight, backing up from that point, at which point I realized that two of the other animatronics had arrived as well. The new Bonnie and Chica were standing to my left and right, respectively. The Bonnie emitted its standard mechanical, pre-recorded laugh, but in the middle of playback, the voice was broken by static and then changed to something that was never recorded.

"[Ha ha]- **** {we won't let you}"

Then Chica...

"[Let's play]- **** {Not one more}"

The new Freddy Fazbear appeared behind me.

"[Ho, ho, ho-] **** {You won't get away.}"

I gasped "Oh, fuck!"

I did not know what to expect, or what this meant. I quickly tried to move around them. I had never seen them act this way before, and I could not fathom what could be causing it.

I darted off toward the prize center, and there, standing in the doorway, was the slender puppet machine that I had seen the previous night. This time, however, its eyes were glowing, and it was facing me directly. This one never even had a voice before, but it spoke directly to me.

"{No more. No more innocent blood. Not one more drop, purple guy.}"

Instinctively, I swung my flashlight at the machine, hoping to knock it down. Instead, it grabbed my arm and squeezed so tightly I started to bruise. I yelled in shock and threw my whole weight into shifting out of the machine's hold. I barely pulled away.

At that point, I focused my effort into making distance, keeping them at bay. My mind was racing. I had not yet fully accepted the possibility that they were actually possessed by the spirits of dead children. I reflexively thought to the limitations of their hardware and software. I charged over to the small workshop in the northwest corner of the restaurant. Once there, I quickly rummaged through my tools to see if I had something that would shut them down, something that would stymie their assault.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _The hunter has become the hunted. What will Vincent do now?_

 _I hope that you are still enjoying the story! Thank you, again for your patience with me. Please let me know what you think! I enjoy reading reviews and private messages about what stands out to you in the story, or even what you think could be improved and how._

 _I will keep writing this story. I cannot guarantee a regular update schedule, or even that I will be able to publish a chapter every month with my new responsibilities at work, but I promise you that I will keep this on my to-do list and keep working it when I can until it is done._


	19. Turnabout

_Author's Note:_

 _Thank you again for your patience and for your readership!_

* * *

 **Turnabout**

I scrambled through my tools looking for something with the potential to stop these mechanical demons. My eyes then fell on the flashlight I already had with me. It had not worked as a club, but perhaps if I rapidly turned it on and off, it could work like a strobe light, perhaps well enough to stop... well, at least Foxy. Maybe the others would react to it as well. It was worth a try at this point.

The thought of using visual cues to confuse the machines brought me to consider the empty costume heads left in the corners and on shelves in the workshop. I had no idea how they were identifying me, or what was really going on at this point, but this was a time for some rapid experimentation, now that my life seemed to depend on it.

I grabbed a spare Freddy Fazbear head, since it was the largest of the heads available, so it was most likely to fit over my head. I slipped it on and immediately realized a serious downside. I could barely see out of it. With robots threatening to come at me from different angles to attack me, I was very reluctant to give up so much peripheral vision, but it, like the flashlight was a desperate measure, worth a try during a desperate chase.

I turned back toward the door to the workshop. I had expected the robots to chase me, and at this point, I would have expected them to have arrived at the door, but I heard nothing. I carefully gripped the door handle. I thought for a moment about whether I should try to open it slowly and silently or quickly in order to get the element of surprise on my side.

I took a deep breath. The sound was strange from inside the Freddy head. It reminded me just a bit of Darth Vader from Star Wars.

I decided on opening the door silently, but in my nervousness, I ended up pressing on the handle harder than I intended, causing the door to open a bit more quickly and loudly than I meant. I quickly looked around, seeing and hearing nothing.

My breathing became more rapid.

I thought about shining the flashlight, but I realized that doing so might give away my position. Speaking of which, how had they lost me, anyway? I had not exactly been hidden from them when I bolted for the workshop.

I took another deep breath, trying to slow my breathing to think more calmly, and decided that I needed the light to see what was out there. Regardless of the risk, I had to know where I stood relative to them.

I shined the light left...

I saw the bathrooms off the hallway leading to the main stage. Nothing was moving, and there were no robots. I quickly remembered the new Foxy climbing on the ceiling.

I shined the light up...

Nothing but the ceiling.

I shined the light right...

I saw the long hall leading to the security office, with party rooms off to either side. Again, I saw no robots. I thought about my next move. I preferred to avoid the animatronics if possible. If I had to guess, I would imagine that they were more likely to be back at the main stage and Kid's Cove than anywhere else, so I headed the other direction, toward the security office.

As I walked that way, I was keenly aware of the danger posed by the party rooms. I could not see what was in them until I was already in the doorway, and any time I spent looking in them was time that an animatronic could sneak up behind me from the main stage area. I decided that I needed to be quick.

The first room on my right was party room 3. I tried to see as much into it as I could without putting my back to the darkness of party room 4, which stood exactly opposite the hall from party room 3. I quickly moved the light from the flashlight up and down over the room. Nothing was there. Nothing was out of place, at least. The tables, chairs, and hats were all set up as normal, and nothing was lurking in the corners.

Feeling as though I had left my back exposed for a long time, I quickly turned around and aimed my flashlight into party room 4, seeing nothing right away, I pointed the light back up at the ceiling, and then back down the hall toward the bathrooms before checking party room 4 more thoroughly. Again, I found nothing.

My stomach was tying itself into knots. Part of me would almost prefer to get into another fight with them, because then, at least, I would know from which direction they were coming. I would know what I had to do.

I emerged back into the hall. To my left was the rest of the path to the security office. I wanted to make it back there. Then, I would have access to the cameras, giving me the best possible vantage point. I would also have access to the phone, which may or may not prove useful.

There were two more party rooms on the way to the security office. Party room 1 was to the right, and party room 2 was to the left, on the same side of the hallway as party room 4, from which I was just then emerging. I took a deep breath and headed for party room 1.

As I peered in, I saw no robot, but I did notice something strange about the far wall. I could not tell what it was, at first. The Freddy head was still obscuring my view. It looked like it might have been some torn wallpaper, a point from which paint had worn off, or maybe a damaged poster. I walked a bit closer.

Just then, I heard something move behind me, and I quickly spun around. There, standing before me was the new Bonnie, about four feet high and baby-blue colored, it stared right at me, while standing in the doorway to party room 1.

I gasped and stepped backward once. I held the flashlight on it. There was no hiding from it now. I rapidly started thinking about what options I had, what hope I had. The damned robot was blocking the only exit from the room.

Should I grab a chair and just bash the robot with it? Should I try to lure it into the room and then run around it? If I waited too long, would its companions join it? My hand twitched gripping the flashlight tightly as I tried to quickly decide on a course of action.

Then, the bright blue robot bunny simply walked away.

I stood there for a moment catching my breath. My breath was heavy and rather warm, the sound of it amplified inside the Freddy head that I was wearing. At that point, I surmised that the Freddy head had done its job, leading the Bonnie robot to think that I was one of them and to leave me alone. I could not be sure that was what happened, but I was ready to accept it at this point.

I carefully emerged from the party room and moved back toward the security office. The office itself was well-lit, and I could see that there were no animatronics around it at the moment. I quickly closed the remaining distance and took my seat at the desk.

I glanced at the monitors. The cameras were still working, but walking around a hallway was one thing, staring at a small, flickering screen was entirely another, and there was no way I could see anything clearly on the screen through the Freddy head. I took a quick glance around and pulled it off.

I took a deep breath of cool, relatively fresh air. I had not been aware of how much I had needed to get that stuffy head off. I let it fall to the floor beside me, and it rolled a few feet as I started flipping through the different cameras to see what I could see in the other rooms.

I saw the little Bonnie in one of the other party rooms, and back near the workshop, I saw Chica and Freddy. I cursed under my breath. I still needed to clean up the safe room, which was located near the workshop, and in order to do that, I would still need to get my steam cleaner out of the workshop and into the safe room.

Flipping through cameras, I realized that I could not find Foxy on any of them, and for that matter, the puppet was also missing.

I started to think about the clean-up again. The night was going to be over soon. I was expected to leave at six o'clock in the morning. If I left and someone else found what I left in the safe room... Well, at least no one ever really went into the safe room. They did not even clean it. I cleaned it more than anyone else did. I had a fairly good chance of simply being able to do the cleaning the next night, but... would these robots be acting this way tomorrow night, too?

For that matter, would they still be acting this way in the morning, once staff and customers started coming in? If that were the case, that could be a disaster. Not only would it cause problems for the restaurant, which would translate to problems for me maintaining employment, but it would also make it more likely that someone decides to use the safe room, which is something I could not afford.

Twilight was just barely beginning to shine. The shift would be over soon. There was still no sign of the fox and no sign of the puppet. I looked up from the monitors and there they were. The new, mangled Foxy hanging from the ceiling, and the puppet standing directly in front of the security desk. I reached out to my left where the Freddy head had been, but by now it had rolled over into the corner. I would have to dive to reach it, but I was not sure if I should make any sudden movements.

I looked back at the puppet, its glowing eyes staring back at me with what seemed like barely-contained rage. It croaked out it a strange, breathy, yet vaguely mechanical tone:

" _This is him. This is the purple guy._ "

"Purple guy?" I wondered. I realized at that moment that the uniform that I had been wearing was purple.

At that moment, the other animatronics emerged from the shadows around the puppet. I was surrounded. I backed up very slowly toward the Freddy head that I had dropped. Whatever was going on with these machines, I thought, this might be my only shot.

I finally got within a few feet of it, the machines all still glaring at me silently. I quickly reached out, grabbed the head and stuffed it over my own head. As soon as I looked back out through the Freddy head's eyes, I saw that the puppet was lunging at me. It screamed at me in a high-pitched, unnatural squeal that made my ears feel as though they would burst, and it forcefully ripped off the Freddy head.

Just then, everything stopped. I thrashed a bit, and looked up. The puppet had frozen in place, and it was backing away. All of the other machines turned around and walked back toward the main stage. When the ringing in my ears finally started to subside, I realized that the alarm clock, set for six o'clock, was going off.

Their daytime programming was kicking in, and it seemed to be overriding whatever it was that they were doing previously.

I was safe, for the time being, but I realized that my safety could disappear easily if I did not manage to get over to the safe room and clean it up somehow. If I let it go for too long, people would start to notice the smell of rotting flesh, and that would likely lead them to the safe room. Leonard would be walking in soon to relieve me. I had to think fast. I just needed a little more time in the restaurant.

I also considered that this altercation with the robots had been recorded on the surveillance cameras, and I was not sure whether or not I wanted to allow that to be seen, as well. I was trying to calm down, trying to figure out a plan. I was usually quite good at planning, but I usually have more time than this, and something completely out of left field had just changed everything. I still had no idea what had happened. Well, to be honest, I had an idea, but I was still too shocked, and it was still so unbelievable to me, that I had not been able to accept it, yet.

If I was going to come up with a plan, the first thing I would need is more information. I pulled up the surveillance footage, and I tried to figure out two things: what had happened with the robots, and how would this look to someone else if they saw it, in other words, could I allow someone else to see this?

I looked around the time I was having my fun with Frederick. Sure enough, there was no sign of him or of me, and the robots were keeping still. They were not doing anything unusual.

Until... one moment. It must have been right around the time I finished off little Freddy. At that point, I saw the robots start to rattle, saw the puppet emerge from its box, saw the mangled new Foxy robot twitch violently and start climbing a wall until it was above the field of the cameras' view.

I could barely believe it. I tried to imagine some way that they could have randomly malfunctioned or that someone else could have sabotaged them, but there was no explanation for this. No... there was one explanation. Just as I started to consciously consider this supernatural idea, I heard a voice.

"Hello-hello! Uh, good morning, Vince!"

Leonard had walked right into the security room. With no doors to open, and with me watching previously recorded footage instead of the live feed, I had not heard or seen him coming. It was now too late to prevent him from seeing the footage. It was time to improvise.

"I am so glad that you are having a good morning, Leonard, but it has been quite an awful night for me."

"Oh, sorry to hear that, buddy. You tired or something?"

"Oh, one could say that."

"Jeez, you're sweating. Is the A/C not working or something?"

"Oh, I would be much more concerned about a very different type of malfunctioning machine. Take a look at this, would you?"

I knew that trying to hide it would be completely futile, but being forthcoming usually makes people think you have nothing to hide. Leonard leaned over and watched the footage of the robots chasing me.

"Oh! What the heck? Jeez, what happened to them, Vince?!"

"What happened to _THEM?!_ " I exclaimed. "I was nearly killed!" I wagered that trying to garner sympathy would give me the best position later to be trusted and have any requests I needed to make later granted. I had decided to play that card for a bit.

"Oh-oh, I'm sorry, Vincent, I uh, I didn't mean it like that. A-are you okay?"

"How could I possibly be? It is a miracle that I was not injured! I cannot be expected to work in these conditions!"

"Oh, okay, no injuries? That's good. Jesus... Okay, so, um... since you were the one who, uh, worked on them... what do you think happened with, uh... why did they do this, I mean, can you fix them or...?"

"In case you forgot, Leonard, I am not an engineer anymore. They were working _perfectly_ when I was last in charge of their maintenance. They look as though they are working fine right now, too. It was only for the last few hours before six in the morning that they acted up. Maybe if I were hired back as an engineer, I could take a closer look at it and make sure that it never happens again. At any rate, being a night security guard under these conditions is simply unacceptable."

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Vince. I'll uh... I'll ask Mr. Albaf if he thinks you can be an engineer again or something, but he was telling me that we didn't have the money for that anymore. But don't worry. I'm _still_ head of security, and I'm going to do what I can for you. I'm moving you to day shift as of right now, and uh, you won't have to worry about being alone with these things at the very least. Please go ahead and take the day off, and I'll see you tomorrow morning, say in twenty-four hours right here, okay? We should have some things worked out by then."

Shit. This was not what I was hoping would happen. Moving to the day shift would mean being around more troublesome kids, but more importantly, it would mean not having access to the safe room at night. I still needed to clean up in there. There was nothing I could think to say in that moment to refuse the proposed arrangement that would not seem more suspicious. I had to accept. At least it would give me some more time to consider the situation. Still, being away from the restaurant for twenty-four hours disturbed me. I was tired and rattled, but I knew that it would be in my best interest to remain in close proximity to the strange things going on in order to stay in the loop. Who knows what would happen, what people would learn, if I were not there to help direct things?

I sighed. "Thank you, Leonard. I will return tomorrow at this time."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Thank you for reading and reviewing! I know that this story has not always been publishing as fast as I would like, but I think that we can all sense how close we are to the climactic conclusion! Are you as excited as I am? How are you liking it so far? What did you think of this chapter?_

 _Best wishes! :)_


	20. Revelation

_Author's Note:_

 _The previous night watch has finished up his week after complaining of... conditions. However, his torment is not over, yet._

 _Meanwhile, remember Salina? The heroine of Five Nights at Freddy's 3? Karl has an appointment to keep._

 _But first, the gang is finally all here._

* * *

 **Revelation**

"No!" Freddy screamed. "No, NO, NO, NOOOOO!"

He then broke down in a fit of sobbing.

"I'm so stupid... SO _STUPID!_ "

Freddy wept, still lingering in the room with the animatronic that shared his name, the one holding his own mangled corpse. At that point, four more shadowy figures approached him.

"Don't say that. You're not stupid." said Nils.

Hanna approached right afterward and also attempted to comfort Freddy.

"You're a good guy. Thanks for trying to help us."

"I... failed." Freddy sobbed in reply.

"Not yet." A voice came from the darkness, and Mark emerged in his puppet body with Helen and Teo in their Chica and Foxy bodies on either side of him. "You haven't failed, yet." Mark continued.

"Wha... what do you mean?" Freddy replied incredulously.

"You wanted to make the bad guy suffer."

"I wanted to _catch_ him, but-"

"And you _will_! We will catch him together. You can take that body, not the broken one you used to have, but the stronger one around it. We can make him **pay** for what he did... if you want it badly enough."

"I _do!_ "

At that moment, the gentle reaper appeared once more, making another attempt to keep yet another soul from being trapped in this painful state. Death knew that it would not be easy, and Death knew that Freddy would likely choose to stay, but Death was determined to try anyway.

"Freddy, your work is done."

Mark then interrupted. "Or, you can give up and die. It's entirely your choice."

Death implored Freddy "You do not need to work anymore, you do not need to suffer anymore. Leave the pain behind and rest."

Mark added. "By all means, do what you want. _I_ think you want to help us stop the bad guy before he hurts anyone else."

Death continued: "That is not your job. Leave that to the authorities of this world. You need not worry about it or about anything else from now on."

There was a period of pregnant silence as Freddy took this in, contemplating his choice.

"He said it himself." Freddy finally spoke up. "The cops won't find him. He's smart enough to keep hidden. I only learned it was him because... he let me. I can't let that go to waste. I can't let _any_ of this go to waste. I... am going to finish this. No matter what it takes!"

Death had already prepared for such a choice. It was disappointing, but not surprising, and Death faded away, wondering what horrors would ultimately be the result of this abomination.

* * *

"After I got home-" Springtrap spoke, then suddenly stopped.

Karl was confused for a moment. The sudden silence was unnerving. After several seconds, he decided to speak through the microphone: "Are you still there?"

There was no response. As Karl gazed into the chamber where Springtrap was restrained, he saw the monster's eyes were closed. Karl finally thought to check the time on his phone.

06:00

Of course, the time had really slipped past him, Karl thought. It was time to get back topside and head home.

Karl sighed pleasantly thinking about the fact that he did not need to go into the lab today. It was a Saturday, and professor Quinlan had not asked for anyone to come in on the weekend this time. This would be good, Karl decided. He could get some sleep during the day and wake up in time to go meet Salina.

* * *

Salina had arrived early, excited to see Karl. She ordered two mochas and took a seat. She was pleased to see Karl walk in not too long after her.

"Hey, there!" Salina waved as he walked in. Karl was a bit surprised to see that Salina was early.

"Uh, hey!" Karl replied, smiling. They walked over to the corner and sat down in their usual spot.

"Thanks again, for the mocha, and... for meeting me." Karl said looking down at his drink, feeling a bit agitated, the horror of Springtrap's stories still rolling through his mind.

"Not at all! I'm happy to do it!" Salina said, gently laying her hand on his on the table. "Are you feeling alright, Karl?"

Karl quickly composed himself, putting on a pleasant smile. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine, thanks! Just a bit tired."

"Do you work on Saturdays?" Salina asked, wondering why he was tired today.

"Oh, uh, no." Karl replied.

"So..." Salina tried to prompt him for a fuller explanation, but was met with silence. She decided to continue "...so were you... just out late last night or..."

"Yeah, something like that."

Salina felt like something did not quite make sense. Maybe it was personal to Karl, and he wasn't ready to discuss it, she thought, but she was really curious.

"Did your family keep you up?"

"Huh?"

"Weren't they coming to visit you last night?"

"Oh? Oh! Right, uh, yeah. Sorry, I'm just feeling a bit scatterbrained right now."

"It's... it's okay." Salina knew that Karl was not exactly being completely honest with her, but she decided that the polite thing to do was to back off from that subject at the moment. Maybe Karl had a difficult relationship with his family. Maybe they were strange somehow.

"So tell me about-"

"So tell me about-" Both Karl and Salina started speaking simultaneously.

Karl sighed, and Salina giggled.

"So, what do you do?" Salina tried again.

"Oh? Um, I'm a... research assistant." 

"Oh, that's cool. What do you study?"

"Um... insects, and... stuff."

"Okay..." Salina picked up on Karl's discomfort. "We don't have to talk about work if you don't want." she added, finally.

"Yeah, uhm... just not feeling talkative right now, sorry. But, uh, I wanted to get back to what you were doing at Fazbear's Fright. How was your fifth night? What did you do?"

This was a bit of a surprise to Salina. Karl seemed like he was uncomfortable, so she had thought that he might need a lighter topic of discussion, yet here he was asking about her nightmare of a summer job. Still, it was something that she wanted to get off her chest, so she went along with it.

"Oh, okay. Well, I came back one more time."

* * *

Thinking that it might serve useful as a last-ditch self-defense option, I had gone by a sporting goods store earlier that day and picked up a baseball bat. I had no intention of playing baseball with it, so I was not interested in their wooden bats. I picked up a composite bat made of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer. It might not destroy the yellow bunny machine, but it could potentially knock it back or loosen something. Then, it was on to the hardware store for a crowbar. If I did need to knock that machine down with the bat, I would like to have a tool for making sure that it did not get back up again.

As I walked into Fazbear's Fright, I looked at my phone. It was only about 11:00. I had time to check the arcade again before heading back to the security office. I was wearing jeans with a belt, and while I carried the bat in my right hand, I had slipped the crowbar into my belt on my left side, so I could carry it while leaving one hand free.

Only one arcade cabinet was on. It was just showing static, but I figured it was the one to check. I set my bat down and grasped the controls. As soon as I did I was greeted with the same odd room as I had seen the previous night. A single room with the label "STAGE 01" at the top. The big obvious difference, however, was that now, there was a new character under my control. A hideous dark-purple figure that looked vaguely like the Bonnie character.

When I moved the joystick, the sprite of the creature I was controlling started glitching out terribly, but it wasn't crashing the game, and I could at least see where I was and where I was going. I also didn't seem to have any trouble floating straight up.

There was a standard "EXIT" door in the top right corner of the room, but I knew that was not my goal. There was someone else in there who needed my help.

By pressing one of the buttons, I was able to cycle through different background stages. Each was only a single room, but I recognized the style of each one as matching one of the stages I had played before. One was purple and looked like the "MANGLE'S QUEST" game, another was green and looked like the "CHICA'S PARTY" game.

One of the rooms was different, though. It was black and purple, looking like a glitched-up stage, with nothing but an empty room, and just outside of it, barely visible in the bottom-left corner of the screen, was another weeping, ghostly dark-gray child.

By cycling to a room that resembled "BB'S AIR ADVENTURE", I was able to escape through the top left corner of the room, just as I had a few nights prior. Then, once I was outside of the room, I was able to cycle back to the glitched background and approach this final child.

The cake appeared on the screen. The child's eyes widened, the screen shut off, and the emotional wave hit me so hard I felt as though I had almost been knocked out.

All around me it was dark. I couldn't see anything, but I felt a deep yearning, a sense of catharsis and relief that exceeded anything that I had felt before. Then, something new happened. I heard voices of these children, thanking me. Thanking me for bringing them together and for helping them. I felt a rush of warmth and happiness, and then I was back in the arcade.

In that moment, somehow I just _knew_ that I had done it. I had done my job, saved everyone. I felt at peace.

Physically speaking, I don't know what happened to me. I may have passed out or something; I don't know. Anyway, I checked my phone, and it was 11:50. Time to take my bat and get back to the security office, because there was another trial left to face.

As I walked into the security office, I set the bat with its head on the floor, leaning the handle against the console, laid the crowbar on top of the console, and I heard the new phone message playing:

"Hello? Hello!"

It was the same voice that I had heard give the last few training tapes. I wondered if I was ever going to hear from Boniface again.

"Um, this is just a reminder of company policy concerning the _safe room_. The safe room is reserved for equipment and/or other property not being currently used and as a backup safety location for employees only."

This description sounded strange. The "safe room" seems like an ordinary storage closet, except with the added feature of being hidden.

"It is not a break room and should _not_ be considered a place for employees to hide and/or congregate, and under no circumstance should a _customer_ **ever** be taken into this room and out of the main show area."

That was somewhat emphatic. Had a customer actually been taken into that room? Had something gone wrong as a result?

"Management has also been made aware that the Spring Bonnie animatronic has been noticeably moved. We would like to remind employees that this costume is not safe to wear under any circumstances. Thank you and remember to smile. You are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

The "Spring Bonnie" animatronic? I immediately started looking back at the cameras. That must be what I was seeing. It had moved. What had moved it? What was going on? Were there more clues to be found that could help me end this nightmare?

I knew that the situation was dangerous, but I was determined to see it through to the end, and I had finally figured out how to use the vent controls and audio signals to stay safe. I started off feeling rather confident, actually. All of the systems on the maintenance panel were in working order, and the "Spring Bonnie" character that had been giving me so much trouble was showing up clearly in the north end of the building, about as far away from me as it was possible for him to be.

I held out hope that, maybe because I had helped the ghostly children, I wouldn't face trouble from the Spring Bonnie machine and those hallucinations this time. I was so very, very wrong.

Only just a moment into my night, though, I saw the "Play Audio" button become disabled and the "audio error" message flash on the camera display. It was odd for that to happen so early.

I switched over to the maintenance panel and started the reboot of the audio devices. I was staring at the maintenance panel screen, waiting for the error to disappear from the audio devices line when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

I looked out the window to the hallway just outside the security office, and for just a half second, I could have sworn I saw the outline of Freddy Fazbear, walking by with a top hat and microphone. Almost as soon as I looked at it, though, it seemed to disappear below the window. Gripping the handle of my bat, I leaned forward and looked down out the window, but I saw nothing there. I hadn't seen any detail, anyway. It only looked like a silhouette. Maybe it was just the shadows and flashing lights playing tricks on me.

Just to be safe, I checked the maintenance panel again. There was nothing wrong with the ventilation system, at least not according to the panel. I decided to check the cameras again.

All I got on the screen was static and a small red message in the top-left corner flashing "video error".

I swiveled back to the maintenance panel, and there I saw not only was there an error with the camera system, but also with the ventilation. I started rebooting the camera system first. It was closer to the top of the list, and it was the first of the two errors that I had noticed. It was not until I had already pressed the button that I realized that I should probably have rebooted the ventilation system first. In the meantime, I had to wait for the camera system to reboot before I could start rebooting the ventilation system.

This night had only started a few minutes ago, and it was already going badly.

The camera system finally finished rebooting, so I moved the cursor over to "ventilation" and started to reboot it, when I heard thumping in the vents above me. Could that be a result of the rebooting of the system? I wondered this, but the way that it seemed to be moving made me worried that it had nothing to do with the ventilation machines themselves, and more to do with some other, much more horrifying machine in the vents.

Since the camera system had recovered, I quickly pulled up the cameras on my panel on the right side of the console, and tapped the "Map Toggle" button to take a look at the vents. I tapped from camera to camera looking for Spring Bonnie, but nothing came up, nothing in any of the views.

I had been so confident when I walked in, and I was already losing control over the situation. I tapped "Map Toggle" again to look back at the view over the rooms, wondering if maybe I had missed something, if he were still there somewhere, if he had popped out into another room.

Just then, I heard a loud metallic creaking sound coming from just to my left.

I instinctively grabbed the bat and turned to face the source of the sound.

There he was. The Spring Bonnie machine was standing right in front of me inside my security office and was coming right for me. I only had a small amount of space behind me, but I took a small step back and swung the bat as hard as I could.

I was no athlete. It's not like I could've hit a home run or anything, but I was really expecting to do _something_ to the thing when I swung at it. It caught my bat in the air like it was nothing, yanked it right out of my hands, and crunched it like it was cardboard. The polymer creaked and snapped as the machine bent the bat into a pitiful, crooked shape. The crowbar was on the other side of him, so I couldn't reach it, not that it would've likely done any good at that point anyway.

I tried to edge away, wondering if maybe I could dash around him fast enough to just escape. Maybe if I leapt over the console, I could get around him. It didn't look like it would work, but it was my only shot.

It never would've worked. He was way too fast. I started to move over in that direction, putting myself between Spring Bonnie and the window to the hall, and he threw the bat at me while emitting a terrifying metallic screech. It was only by virtue of me stumbling on the chair as I tried to climb over that he overshot and missed. The bat shattered straight through the window, leaving an enormous hole in the window, and even leaving small crater on the wall outside.

That was my chance! I immediately dove through the window, following the bat's path, fell to the floor outside and ran.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _I am so excited to be this close to the end! I think that you will be pleased. I hope so! Let me know what you are thinking in the reviews or in private messages, if you prefer._

 _Best wishes!_


	21. Night Five

_Author's Note:_

 _Welcome back and thank you, again for your readership!_

* * *

 **Night Five**

I dove through the window, feeling the broken glass tearing at my clothes and likely my skin as well, but with all the adrenaline, I barely noticed it. I scrambled down the hallway, desperate to put some distance between myself and that mechanical monster.

I looked around for a place to hide. I rounded the first corner I saw, and as soon as I felt fairly sure that I was out of his sight, I saw a curtain behind an old Freddy costume at the north end of the hall, so I slid back behind, still able to peek out through one corner of the curtain.

My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest, and I tried to slow my breathing to make myself less obvious.

I then started to feel as though my hiding place might be more of a trap than a safe place. If I were spotted, would I be able to get out? I was too terrified to move, though.

I waited for a few minutes, trying to calm my breathing, trying to be as quiet as possible, listening as carefully as I could to hear the Spring Bonnie animatronic if it were approaching from one direction or another, to hear if it were in the vents, or anything. For a surprisingly long time, I heard nothing. I needed to get around him, to get back to the control room by myself. If I could get back there without the bunny following me, I could regain control of the situation.

I decided that it had been long enough, and I had to risk moving just a little bit, just to get a better view of what was going on. I shifted in my hiding spot ever so slightly in order to get a clearer view of the hallway, to see if I could see anything else, to hear anything else while still remaining mostly hidden.

Nothing.

I leaned a bit further.

"HELLO!"

The child-like voice rang out from the speaker right next to me, startling me so badly that I felt a surge of blood all the way down to my toes as my heart went straight back to panic mode. I gasped loudly and quickly covered my mouth before looking back out at the hall to see if anyone was coming.

I had a moment to consider what had just happened. That sound only played from those speakers when someone operated the controls to make that happen. The Spring Bonnie animatronic was still inside the control room, and it was looking for me on the camera system! All this time, I had been thinking of it as a mindless beast, perhaps even a zombie. Could it actually know what it was doing?

My mind made the next logical step. If it had been watching for me, and then played that sound... it might have seen me move when the sound played! It might be heading straight for me. My hiding spot was no longer safe. It was risky either way, but I had to make a move immediately. I started running.

I went a little further away from the control room, I went further to the east where there was another hallway parallel to the one where I had just been hiding, and I went there, hoping that the animatronic would have taken the shortest route to reach me at my previous hiding spot.

After rounding the corner, I slowed down and listened. I heard nothing. I slowly moved back south, down the far hallway, back toward the control room. If the Spring Bonnie animatronic were heading straight for my hiding spot, it would be going north along the other hallway, just west of me. That wall separating me from that path was the thing on which I was relying to stay out of sight.

As I got to the south end of this eastern hallway, I could hear the stomping of the animatronic moving.

Whump.

Whump.

Whump.

I knelt down to the ground to be less visible, and I slowly peeked around the corner to look back west, toward the control room. I just caught a glimpse of the animatronic turning north, going the way I went when I initially ran from him.

My plan was going okay so far. I just needed him to get far enough away from me for me to move back behind him and get back to the control room without him hearing me. "How sensitive _is_ his hearing?" I wondered silently. Thankfully, it was at least weak enough not to hear me breathing around the corner.

Whump.

Whump.

Whump.

I listened as the animatronic moved closer to my old hiding spot. It sounded like he was halfway down the hall now. I was about to peek around the corner to make sure that the coast was clear, when I started to hear the alarm for the ventilation system going off back at the control room. The speakers for this were only in the control room, not throughout the facility, so it was not as loud as usual where I was hiding, but it made me stop in my tracks. Did the bunny hear it? Was it going to come back?

Whump.

….

Whump.

Whump.

After a brief pause, the bunny apparently had decided to ignore the alarm and keep going north, much to my relief.

Bracing myself against the wall to make sure I didn't slip, I slowly stood up, took a careful look at the floor in front of me, checking for anything that might make a sound, and I started to carefully walk back across his path.

It felt like I was crawling through peanut butter, like I was directly within a line of sight of him for ages, so completely exposed, but his back was turned, and he didn't notice. It probably only took a few seconds, but it felt like forever before I made it across the hall, and back with a corner blocking me from the animatronic's vision.

I picked up the pace slightly and moved down toward the turn I would have to make to get back into the control room. I just barely noticed the broken glass in time to avoid stepping on it. Though the alarm was helping me to mask the sound of my movements, I didn't want to take the chance that he would hear the cracking sound if I walked over the broken glass.

Just as I was on the home stretch, heading straight for the seat at the control console, I heard a loud BANG echoing through the facility.

With my next step, I was assaulted by the image and screaming of a dark and decaying Freddy Fazbear leaping up from the ground. I gritted my teeth and pushed past the hallucination, which I had known to expect with the failing ventilation system. I moved to the seat and paused to think for just a moment.

As soon as I rebooted the ventilation system or played any audio, the Spring Bonnie would know I had made it back to the control room. I had to make sure I knew what I was doing and where he was before I did either of those things.

Trying my best to ignore the alarm, and taking a brief glance out the broken window in front of me, I pulled up the camera system.

*audio error*

*video error*

Damn! I glanced back up at the window, still no sign of the animatronic, and turned over to the maintenance panel.

I tried to take a deep breath, but the air was getting bad. I knew I couldn't restart the ventilation. Not yet. Not until I was back in total control otherwise. All of the systems were in error, but I only rebooted the video and audio.

As I waited for the restart, I kept my head low and stared out the broken window, not even sure what I could possibly do if I _did_ see that monster coming back my way. I couldn't think straight. My mind was getting fuzzy. My eyes drifted closed and I had just started to black out when a twisted visage of Foxy leapt at me from the corner of the room. Ironically, the panic of another hallucination may have saved my life, as it got me awake again, my heart pumping again.

Both audio and video had been fixed. I turned back to the camera and immediately pulled up cam 02, which had the best view of my previous hiding spot behind the curtain, where the Spring Bonnie had surely gone. I realized with a sick feeling in my stomach what the loud BANG had been earlier. The animatronic had punched a hole in the wall. Presumably, it had thought I was still back there and was trying to crush me. The animatronic wasn't there anymore, though.

Working hard to force more air in and out of my lungs, I flipped to the next couple of cameras in the area, looking for him. Luckily for me, he had headed over to the arcade and appeared to be looking for me around there.

"Gotcha" I whispered out loud. I pulled up cam 08, just east of where Spring Bonnie was standing, and played the sound. A child's laughter played, and the bunny froze in place for just a moment. It emitted a strange metallic groan, perhaps a scream, before following the bait, leading it farther away from me, deeper into the north end of the facility.

I would have sighed in relief if I could breathe well enough. It was finally time to fix that. I turned back to the maintenance panel and rebooted the ventilation system. A few seconds later, after some grinding and thumping in the old, rusty vent system, the air began to flow once more, and I took a deep breath. Compared to the breaths I had just been taking, I felt as though I could almost _feel_ the oxygen soaking into my lungs, clearing the fog in my mind.

I pulled up the camera monitor again, and went back to directing the bunny back and forth as necessary.

There were more hallucinations, more system failures, but I stayed on top of it for the rest of the night. That rabbit never got another chance at me. When six AM finally rolled around again, I knew I couldn't stay there and let that thing run around anymore.

* * *

"Wow." Karl spoke in a hushed tone.

Salina was tightly gripping her cup. She could feel her heart rate had climbed from retelling that story. It was a tough thing to deal with it again, but it felt cathartic. It was good to be able to share it with someone without fear of being thought crazy.

"Yeah, I-" Salina began, but just then, Karl's phone alarm went off.

"Oh, uh, sorry." Karl said, checking his phone. "Wow, that late already? Sorry, Salina, I mean, thank you very much for sharing that with me, I just have to get to work."

"Work? You work a late night shift on the weekends? Where do you work? I mean, you said you worked in a lab, but... you have a night job, too, or...?"

"Oh, umm..." Karl hesitated. He had not meant to say "work" before. He didn't really want to tell Salina what he was doing at night. He was not sure how she would take it, but... then again... maybe once his research was finished, there would not be much risk to sharing it with her and... after all, she had been so helpful, it would probably be good to let her in on everything, just... not quite yet.

"Yeah, I _do_ have another night job." Karl decided to speak. "It's just... I want to tell you about it, but... not tonight. I actually stayed out a little too late already, so I need to get a move on, but I promise, I'll tell you what you want to know later... Is that okay?"

Salina did not know what to think. What sort of night job did Karl have that he was ashamed? Why didn't he trust her enough to share it with her? Had she given him any reason to think that she was uptight about one thing or another?

Various ideas floated through her head. Maybe he makes minimum wage as a stocker at a grocery store, and he's ashamed of having a low-wage job. That's nothing to be ashamed of, though. We all have to do what we have to do to make ends meet, and it's admirable to put so much effort into something like that. Hmmm... maybe it's something more taboo? Does he work as a bartender at a gay bar or something? Does he work as a janitor... at a sex club? Is he a stripper?

Salina actually found herself trying to stifle a chuckle at that last thought. Karl was nice-looking, but he definitely did not have the physique for a Chippendale's dancer. She sighed deeply and reminded herself that, though she may not have said or done anything to cause Karl to distrust her, they had only been hanging out for a week or so, so she couldn't really blame him for not wanting to open up about whatever he might be doing of which not everyone would approve. She would give him time, she would let him open up when he wanted. She didn't want to push him.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine." She replied, grinning widely from her own silly thoughts. She coughed into her fist and cleared her throat to try to stifle little bits of laughter from bubbling up. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yes, tomorrow definitely." Karl said, already moving out to the parking lot.

Karl drove back out of town to the bunker and took the long elevator ride down to the observation room where he would address Springtrap again.

* * *

"AAAAAGH!" Freddy Pryor's soul shrieked as he erupted from his mechanical body. The yellow bear suit that still held his crushed human body was being consumed by flames, and Freddy was completely unable to use it anymore, not even able to inhabit it.

"Why?!" He started to cry, as the figure torching both of his bodies remained completely oblivious, unable to either see or hear Freddy. "Even this? I can't even have that stupid suit? WHAT MORE ARE YOU GONNA TAKE FROM ME?!"

The other ghostly children were there watching in dismay as their newest ally lost his greatest tool. Nils turned away, unable to handle the emotion of the situation. Seeing her little brother like that, Hanna instinctively tried to comfort Freddy. "It's okay. We'll find another way. You don't need that body, there are-".

Freddy's sorrow turned to anger. His rage turned to strength and determination. "No. FUCK THAT! That's MY body, damn it! FIRE CAN'T HURT ME NOW ANYWAY!"

Freddy plunged his soul back into the body, even as the fire was tearing pieces of it away, reducing it to ash and warped metal. The pain tore through his mind, but he was determined to bear it, no matter what, to keep that body. He did not want his new friends to leave him behind or to leave them behind. They had to stick together to bring justice.

Having already died to fire once, hearing Freddy's screams was too much for poor Teo, who clutched his head and curled up, wishing that this were not happening, but unwilling to leave Freddy to face this horror alone.

The result of this test of endurance was not quite what Freddy had expected. Even as he focused his will to maintain the integrity of the Golden Freddy suit, to keep every piece of it firmly within his soul, the physical structure of it was completely disintegrating.

The fire died, and only the ash and embers remained, with Freddy's soul hovering over them, his eyes shut tight in deep exertion.

The dark figure that had been burning the mess then began to sweep up the remnants, shoving them into boxes and bags, depending on the size of the pieces.

Hanna was on the verge of tears seeing Freddy go through all of that. "I- It's okay, Freddy. You... tried your best."

Freddy's eyes opened, and a small grin appeared on his face. "and I succeeded. That body... _is_ mine!"

Suddenly, where Freddy's soul once hovered, appeared an apparition of the Golden Freddy suit, slumped over and seated on the ground in the corner of the room.

The dark figure sweeping up the remnants seemed to notice something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to the corner and saw Golden Freddy. He _saw_ him.

"Wha...?" The man tried to determine how he could have missed another animatronic in the room. It was impossible.

Freddy emitted a loud, low, inhuman roar that seemed to come from every direction at once. The shadowy figure of a man sweeping the remnants immediately screamed.

Less than a second passed before Helen, Hanna, and even Teo and Nils were on Freddy, stopping him right where he was.

"NO!" Helen shouted. "That's not our enemy! I know you hate him for taking this body, but he's _not_ the one who hurt us! Let him go!"

For the man who burned the machine, there was a terrible chill following an unexplainable terror.

"Wh-what... the fuck?!" He muttered looking around. The image of the Golden Freddy was gone, the roar was gone, with no sign that it had ever happened. "God, I... fucking shadows playing tricks on me... I need to get more rest."

Freddy simmered with anger. "How do _you_ know?" He demanded of Helen. "We can't even _see_ faces clearly! Maybe that _was_ him!"

"No, I think... the guy who hurt us... always wore a purple suit... when he wasn't in that yellow bunny... Please, let's just look for the guy in the purple suit. I don't want to hurt anyone else."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate all of your feedback in the form of reviews and personal messages! This has been such an amazing experience, and while it has been taking me longer than I originally planned, I have been loving it, and it makes me so happy to see the end in sight! I think that you will be pleased with how it all turns out. :)_

 _I have been under a lot of stress with work, and I only managed to write this chapter after I had taken four consecutive days of vacation, so I can't guarantee that I will have a reasonable update schedule, but this story means a lot to me, and I PROMISE that I will finish it, and I will finish it in a way that I think is worthy of the time I have put into it so far. Thank you for your patience._

 _Until next time,_

 _Best Wishes!_


	22. Things Fall Apart

_Author's Note:_

 _You all are awesome for reading this far! I really appreciate you taking this journey with me!_

 _Now, how did Vincent handle the shock of his last night at Freddy's?_

* * *

 **Things Fall Apart**

Karl walked back into the observation room and checked his phone.

11:59

He had just made it in time.

Karl was well-rested now. He was determined not to let Springtrap mess with his head. He had just heard the harrowing ordeal Salina suffered with him. Karl already knew that Springtrap was a murderer, but somehow, hearing the story straight from Salina made it all the more real. It confirmed that having been trapped in this mechanical body had done nothing to soften Springtrap's heart or teach him any kind of lesson. He was a monster who killed solely for entertainment.

Karl began to contemplate how he would need to dispose of his... "research materials" once he had gotten the rest of the story.

"Good morning, Vincent" Karl said coolly into the microphone once midnight rolled around.

"Good morning, Karl." Springtrap replied. "And how are you this fine day?" he continued, offering a hint of sarcasm.

"Fine, thanks. You got cut off last time. You were saying that Leonard had told you to go home and come back for the day shift?"

"Ah, yes."

* * *

I had one major issue to address: I needed to handle the cleanup in the safe room, but now I had been assigned to the day shift.

I considered that Asif Albaf might think that I had tampered with the animatronics in an attempt to get him to hire me back as an engineer. Honestly, it would not have been a terrible idea to do so if mister Albaf were not so shrewd. He would see right through such a plan, and not only that, he would see it as a sign of trouble. I needed to stay on his good side. This unfortunate incident was going to cause me more trouble than I had initially thought.

Even if I offered my engineering services for free, just for a day or two to investigate the new issue with the animatronics... no, that would sound suspicious. Mister Albaf knew that I would never give something for nothing. He would think that I was up to something. But if... I make it seem as though I do not _want_ the engineering job anymore, I might just be able to keep my position.

I growled. I would have wanted to be hired back as an engineer, but this crazy turn of events had complicated those efforts. Like it or not, I had to play it cool for now to avoid suspicion. If I could just get back on the night shift quickly, I would be able to take care of the cleanup. That should not be much of an issue. I had twenty-four hours to rest and think of what I was going to say. I was confident that they would not find anyone new to hire in that time.

I showed up the next morning to discover just how wrong I was.

"Hello-hello, Vinny! Uh, did you sleep okay?" Leonard greeted me.

"I am fine, thank you."

"Hey, that's great! I want you to meet someone. Hey, Jeremy?"

A skinny, fair-skinned, teenage boy with scruffy brown hair and a somewhat confused look on his face walked up to us. He was wearing the purple security uniform. I gritted my teeth.

"Hey, yeah Mister Hawkins?" Good lord, he even _sounded_ stupid. At least he was not likely to consciously hinder my plans.

"Ha, hey! You can just call me Leonard... or 'Leo' if you want. Uh, anyway, Jeremy, I want you to meet Vinny. He had this job before you."

Jeremy extended his hand. I forced a grin onto my face. It helped that I imagined him being crushed by the animatronics. That helped me to grin, at least. I did not extend my hand.

"Hi, _Jerry_. I must be going. Please excuse me." I walked off toward the north side of the building. Hopefully, they would presume I was heading for the bathroom and ignore me for the moment.

As I left, I could hear Leonard continuing to talk to Jeremy. Apparently, he was in a bit of a hurry, too.

"Yeah, um, I really should be taking my break now, man."

"Oh, okay, sure! Um, I do need to fill you in on, um, y'know what? I'll just record some tapes for you when you come in-"

This fucked up my plans. I could hardly demand my spot back in the night watch _now_. Not after what just happened. It would look too suspicious. I had to find some other way to take care of the cleanup, and I had to do it _now_. Twenty-four hours had passed. The safe room had probably started to stink a little, but it would only get much, much worse if I let it go any longer. Besides, every additional moment the mess persisted increased the likelihood someone would discover it before I could clean it.

I had to start cleaning immediately, whatever it took. If it meant I had to take frequent "bathroom breaks" and taking trash out in my pockets piece-by-piece, that is what I would do. I made my way to the safe room.

Upon reaching the safe room door, I glanced around, making sure that no one happened to be looking my way, and I reached for the handle, tucked away in an indentation in the wall. I was just about to open it when I noticed something that made my heart beat faster. There was a piece of clear tape across the door.

It was small, almost unnoticeable, but it was right across the seam of the safe room door. If I had opened the door, it would have torn the tape. I briefly considered that perhaps a child had been carelessly putting tape around on the walls, but... none of the other walls nearby had any tape on them, and this was right across the door opening. This meant one thing: someone had been here and wanted to leave a mark if anyone else tried to enter the safe room. Someone wanted to be able to tell, when they returned, if anyone had entered the safe room since they placed the tape.

I began to sweat.

Sure, now that I had noticed the tape, I could carefully remove it, check for any other similar traps, and just make sure to place it back very carefully when I came back out, but... this was a bigger problem. Someone else had been in the safe room. Someone had already seen what was in there. If I cleaned up my mess now, regardless of how careful I was at getting in and out of that room, _someone_ would notice.

Damn. It was too risky. Anything I did now had the potential to disrupt things. I survive by keeping things in their place. I quickly turned around and made my way toward the bathrooms which were, thankfully, nearby.

At that moment, Asif Albaf rounded the corner. He was looking even more irritated than usual and also a little pale.

"Oh, Vincent. You're back. Good."

I stopped. It appeared mister Albaf had more to say to me.

"I heard about your mishap with the animatronics last night, saw some of the surveillance footage. A real damn shame." Albaf was almost growling. He took a few steps closer to me. I stood where I was.

"I am sorry that I do not have more insight into what happened to them, sir." I responded.

"I'm sure you are." His voice was dripping with venom.

I had a very narrow path to walk here. If I said anything that sounded like I was trying to get hired back as an engineer, Albaf would be certain that I had tampered with the machines and fire me on the spot. If I said nothing or seemed too willing to help, that would also be suspicious because it would be uncharacteristic.

"All I can say is that it looks like someone might have messed with them during the daytime. They never did that before. I do not know, maybe it was some kids disrupting them somehow, hackers tampering with the coding or something like that. At any rate. It is none of my business. I understand they work fine during the day, so the day shift will do fine for me."

Albaf glared at me, inches from my face, like he was trying to read me. I was reading him, too. His eyes were tired and bloodshot. After a few seconds of this uncomfortable silence, he raised a finger in my face.

"Don't. You. Fuck this up for me, Vincent." He then walked off toward the security office, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I walked into the men's room.

I wondered how much Albaf knew. Any bad news about the animatronics was likely enough to upset him. He _might_ not know about Freddy Pryor in the safe room, but I could not be sure. He does not _trust_ me, but he also does not seem confident enough that I did something wrong to call me out on it or to fire me. He is still unsure. That is good. That is the best state for which I can currently hope.

After I finished washing my hands, I headed back toward the security desk. Albaf was grumbling something at Leonard as I walked up. Leonard was being... Leonard.

"Hey, I think it'll be alright, there, sir. I mean, uh, are you feeling well? You look like you might've seen a _ghost_ , ha ha."

"Shut up, Hawkins!" Albaf snapped at him. That was unexpected. Leonard and I both tensed up. Albaf was by no means an easy-going guy, but he almost always kept his cool. Something seemed to have rattled him. I felt an uneasy feeling in my gut. This might not just be a matter of worrying about the prized animatronics malfunctioning.

Leonard looked hurt, like a kicked puppy. "I'm sorry, sir."

Albaf rubbed his eyes as he retrieved a hastily-written document from his pocket.

"Here. Add this to the training tapes."

Leonard skimmed the document silently.

"Um... wh-what did something happen in there, or why are we-"

"Read the damn paper, Leonard. 'Due to budget restrictions'. That's all you need to know."

For the next couple of days, I worked security during the day, and I stayed away from the safe room. Someone else was now involved, whoever left that tape across the doorway, and they were probably keeping watch for any signs of someone to suspect. I had to continue to act as I normally would and show no interest whatsoever in that room.

A couple of times, Leonard came by to ask me if I had noticed anything unusual with the animatronics, and I told him part of the truth; the animatronics seemed to be behaving normally. The rest of the truth was that they were a little quirky around the staff. They would seem to glare whenever one of us in the purple uniform went by. For that reason, I tended to stay off in the security office, well away from the main stage where they spent the most time. It was something that only really became noticeable on the second day.

Apparently, Jeremy had been asking about the animatronics because they had been giving him trouble, creeping around and scaring him during his shift. I chuckled. Perhaps this transfer to the day shift was not such a bad turn of events, after all. It seemed to keep me out of the reach of those robots while they were at their most dangerous.

By the third day, questions about Freddy Pryor started to come up. Of course, there was nothing really tying his disappearance to the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza establishment, just that he had come here a couple of times and that the place had a little bit of a bad history due to other disappearances. There was nothing to really worry about, and Leonard made a point of passing along the public relations spin from Asif Albaf, distancing our establishment from any new tragedies.

The next day, it became apparent that the quirks observed in the animatronics were getting worse. Around children, they followed their programming perfectly. Around parents, they seemed to just stare, and around staff, they started to act a bit unpredictable, almost aggressive at times, jerking back and forth. We did our best to just keep away from them as a result. I briefly considered the possibility that someone had been tampering with them, that they had been deteriorating somehow, but... then I remembered what they said to me the night I killed Freddy Pryor. Those kids... were _in_ there somehow.

Unfortunately, the rumors were not dying down. Despite (or perhaps as part of) our masterful public relations campaign, we were conducting an "investigation". Leonard was visibly nervous and concerned. Whoever had found my mess had not made a stink about it yet, so I was fairly confident that they were not about to cause any more issues, so I continued on as before.

Around the end of the fifth day, once most of the patrons had left, Leonard came by. His face was taught with tension, and he was shaking very slightly. He took a deep breath.

"Vincent?"

"What is it, Leonard?"

He took another deep breath.

"I... I need to show you something."

Leonard popped a VHS tape from our security system into the player. I checked the date on it. It was the date Freddy had come by. Leonard began to talk about what he was showing me.

"I-I was trying to... to help Jeremy out by s-seeing what else I could see about how the... characters were acting up... that night that they..." Leonard trailed off, then pointed to the screen. This was a corner near the back. It was just after midnight.

Oh no.

I began to feel my face heat up as my heart beat faster. I knew what I was about to see on the screen.

"There!" Leonard said, pausing the tape.

It was only for a moment, but you could see Freddy Pryor, inside the restaurant after hours, during the brief moment that he was in view of one of the cameras, before he went into the safe room. I remained silent for a moment. It was best to wait to hear what Leonard had to say about this before responding.

"What happened, Vincent?"

"I do not know. You are the one who had been reviewing these tapes. You tell me, Leonard. What do _you_ see here?"

"That's... That's Freddy Pryor! That's the missing kid! You... He... he came in here that night, but... but I can't find any... any... any footage of him leaving!" Leonard's voice started to crack.

"Hmm, I guess it _could_ be just about anyone. Or maybe some sort of graphical glitch. It is pretty grainy, and _I_ did not see anyone inside that night. If some hoodlum _had_ snuck in somehow, albeit briefly, well, I was probably too distracted fighting to survive to notice."

"That's not a glitch!" Leonard spoke in a raised whisper. "You can see him, right there. That's his face! Also, this is before anything went wrong with the animatronics. I checked the other cameras. They are all still in place at this time."

I remained silent for a bit longer. This was not going to be easy. I would have to find some way to get Leonard off my back, but this was big. Not having access to the machines at night, worrying about whoever had seen my mess watching for anyone looking suspicious... left me unable to cover my tracks as well as before.

"What did you _do_ , Vincent?" Leonard asked, trembling.

I sighed, stood up, and looked Leonard straight in the eye.

"I would think very hard about what you are suggesting, Leonard. You are accusing me of a very serious crime, and you have no hard proof. Of course, nothing is going to happen to me without proof, and, if you _do_ think that I am capable of such horrific acts..." I stepped closer to him, maintaining eye contact "what do you think that I would do to someone who threatened to have me arrested?"

Leonard stared back, shaking for a couple of seconds before I broke the silence.

"It is lucky for you that I am _not_ that kind of person, because if you were _right_ , well, I shudder to think what might happen to you."

Leonard quickly reached down to his pocket and, in a flash, grabbed a stun gun from a holster on his belt and pressed it into my gut without activating it.

"Get out."

As much as my attempt to intimidate him had backfired, I had to admit, I was really impressed with Leonard in that moment. I had not anticipated that reaction. I was so surprised that I did not even react immediately, I was still staring at him when he continued.

"GET OUT! OUT of this restaurant! Y-you're FIRED! DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK!"

I slowly stepped back, somewhat grateful he had decided not to actually zap me. Thoughts came to my head of how I could overpower him, how I could break his fucking head against the security desk, how I could make him regret having not electrocuted me when he had the chance... but I knew that I had lost. There was only one way to proceed right now, to walk outside and come up with a new plan.

I drove home. Before this whole mess with Freddy Pryor, I had always counted on my special relationship with Asif Albaf to help me out if I ever had any problems with Leonard. After all, people who keep each other's secrets are some of the best friends, but... I realized that Albaf had already pretty much determined that I had outlived my usefulness when he relegated me to security, and now he suspected me of causing worse problems. There was no way I could go to him for help, now.

I got home and went to the bathroom to wash my face and help myself to calm down. Everything was falling apart. All my plans were crumbling. All because of those damned animatronics! If they had not suddenly attacked me that night, I could have wiped the tapes, cleaned the room, even had time to work a plan to blackmail Albaf to get me back into a stronger position, but no! Those damned KIDS had to fucking RUIN EVERYTHING!

I screamed and punched my bathroom mirror. I kept punching it and screaming until the blood from my knuckles dripped down the sink and there was no image of me left on the wall in front of me. There was no mirror, only bloody fist-prints and a few remaining shards of mirror.

I took a deep breath, got the bandages from the closet and started to patch myself up. Those kids were NOT going to get away with this.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _If you go back and listen to the calls from Five Nights at Freddy's 2, I think you will be pleased. I tried to match the action up as well as I could. In fact, I think this is the first time that I have ever introduced a character whose real name is actually known in canon! How about that? Do not get too attached to Jeremy, though; this story is not really about him, anyway._

 _Please let me know in reviews or in private messages what you think so far! I always enjoy getting feedback! Best wishes!_


	23. Springtrap

_Author's Note:_

 _You knew it was coming._

* * *

 **Springtrap**

I bided my time, and I kept an eye on Freddy Fazbear's pizza.

I packed up and got on the move, just in case someone decided to send the police after me, and while I was at it, I kept a close eye on the news, both in paper and on television, in order to see what was happening at Fazbear's pizza.

Apparently, my latest attack went strangely unnoticed. Certainly, Frederick Pryor was missing, but his disappearance was never associated with Freddy Fazbear's pizza, and his body was never found. The search was still ongoing. Whoever had discovered it in the safe room before I had had a chance to clean up, this person must have done the cleanup themselves; they were actively covering it up.

Asif Albaf.

I knew that he had to have been the one. He was the only other person I could imagine who would have the stomach and the motivation to cover up a murder in order to keep the place running, and there was no way that he would let anyone else know about it, but it was not going as well as he likely intended. Despite what I am sure he considered to be a masterful cover-up, one which I, myself, recognized as quite thorough and effective, the attitude around the restaurant had been getting worse and worse. The animatronics were behaving strangely, and for all of the benefits of the earlier PR campaign, people were feeling more and more uncomfortable there.

When I learned that they were closing down later that week, I saw my opportunity. Using a pair of binoculars from a nearby park, I watched as they started loading the animatronics into the back of a freight truck. I got into my car and tailed the truck.

It had started raining, and the sun had set, making it harder to see, but I followed the truck closely. We ended up back at the old Fredbear's Family Diner location where this had all begun. I kept my distance after they started parking. I parked at the next side street down the road and found a vantage point from which to watch. I watched as they unloaded the machines into the old building and put an old-looking lock on the door before driving away.

I approached the door, sheets of rain pouring down around me. Surely... it was not the _same_ lock as...

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys. I still had the keys I had used as a security guard for Fazbear's Pizza. I inserted the one that seemed to match this lock and-

-CLICK-

The lock came right open. I had free rein to the place, all because Leonard had not thought to get new locks for the doors after losing an employee. Some head of security _he_ was.

The parking lot had no vehicles left, and I could hear no one moving around inside. The place was completely empty... except for _them_. I went back to my car to get some equipment. I had an old Freddy Fazbear head that I had brought home once to work on, a flashlight, a crowbar, and an axe. I was already carrying the stun gun that I had been assigned as a night guard.

I went back inside the restaurant, and I quickly made my way toward the safe room in the northeast corner. That would be where I would set everything up. As I walked around, I noticed that the other animatronics had been set up in various positions, as though they were planning to reopen the restaurant. Freddy and the gang were up on stage, and Foxy was back up in Pirate's Cove.

The place was falling apart and decrepit. No one had been in here to get it set up in a very long time. There were ceiling tiles that had been torn and lying on the floor, and the occasional rat scurried around in the dark. I walked over to the safe room, just past the kitchen, which had been boarded up for some reason.

I got to the safe room. Inside, there were three old arcade cabinets that were unplugged, and the old, yellow Spring Bonnie costume. The very same one from which I had borrowed the head in order to terrorize most of the kids as I was killing them. I grinned as I thought fondly of good times past.

I put on the Freddy mask. I still had a couple of hours until midnight, but I was not going to wait until then. If I did, then they might all become active for the night-mode at the same time. Instead, I wanted to handle them one at a time.

I walked out to the stage and faced the band. They were all immobile, but they likely still had some energy stored in their batteries. It had not been that long since they had been deactivated, and I knew that I had designed the batteries to retain a lot of power for many days, if needed, while not in use.

I moved around and said "Hello", but none of them responded. This was as I had expected. Confident now that the others would not react, I went up to Freddy Fazbear, and I flipped the switch on the back side, just under the neck, to activate him.

His eyes opened, and he stepped forward, seemingly with nothing to do. I uttered the phrase "follow me", and the machine obeyed. I led him over to the safe room, and just as I passed into it, I turned around and looked back, and Freddy remained in the previous room. My programming had been successful. He could not see me. He could not see into the safe room, and he could not follow.

I removed the Freddy head from my own, and I picked up the stun gun while carefully watching Freddy Fazbear stumble around in confusion. As soon as his back was turned, I ran up behind him, pressed the stun gun into his back, and discharged it.

There was a loud buzzing as the surge of electricity shorted out some of the weaker circuits around the extremities of the robot, sending it crashing to the floor face-down. I walked back into the safe room and grabbed my axe, then came back out to the animatronic.

I used the axe and my foot to turn it over onto its back, and I looked into those eyes once more.

"Hello." I said.

"Are you really in there? Do you remember me?"

The animatronic shifted and twitched, its motors still unable to function properly since the power surge. Its eyes seemed more emotive than ever before. I could actually sense the fear emanating from this machine.

"I think so." I continued.

"You know I was very, _very_ surprised to encounter you again. I wonder which one you are? Oh, well. I suppose that it does not matter. You and your friends are all going to end up the same way anyway."

I lifted the axe and swung it down hard on the animatronic's left knee, permanently disabling it. Now, even if the internal mechanics spontaneously started working again, it would not be standing up. As the axe head impacted the machine, it let out a strange, metallic scream.

"Ah, yes! You _are_ in there! And you can feel pain and fear, too! This certainly is a pleasant treat!" I lifted up the axe again and chopped through the right arm, further removing a potential future threat. I was rewarded with another inhuman cry of pain.

"I remember that you can talk from when you attacked me in the last location. I would love to learn more about you. How _did_ you possess these bodies? Hmm?"

I heard only a mechanical whine from the body underneath me. I lifted the axe, brought it down, and mangled the left arm. The robot cried and thrashed a little bit, but was unable to really move anywhere.

"Oh, come on now. If you do not cooperate, then I am going to have to dismantle you as painfully and slowly as possible. So, here is another question." I paused, looking into its eyes and grinning. "Did you really think that you could defeat me?"

The machine looked away.

"Well?" I insisted. "Did you think that the only reason that I was able to kill you before was because I was a big, strong man, and you were a helpless little child? Did you think that getting larger, stronger bodies would be sufficient to overpower me?!"

I was getting excited now. I swung the axe hard and dug it into the animatronic's right knee, completely crippling it.

"ANSWER ME, you impudent WHELP! HOW DOES IT FEEL?"

I leaned in close and lowered my voice. "How does it feel to know that, even when your body is bigger and stronger than mine, you still cannot beat me, because I am too smart for you? How does it feel to know that, because of your own damned stupidity, you are going to die to me for a _second time_?"

I laughed and then started to catch my breath. I had been having fun, but I needed to conserve my energy. I was no lumberjack, and swinging the axe around was taking enough energy that I would not be able to play with the other three in quite the same way. I decided that I would disable the others more quickly and save the axe for playtime at the end.

"I will admit that I am not totally certain _what_ it takes to kill you in this state, but I _do_ know those machines as thoroughly as anyone possibly can. I designed and built them myself, as a matter of fact, and I have no problem dismantling them piece by piece, until there is nothing left of you. First, however, I am going to let you watch me slaughter your friends again, too."

The machine let out another strange cry, and I went into the safe room to get my Freddy head. I put it back on, grabbed my stun gun, and went back out to the stage. This time, I activated Bonnie, ordered him to "follow me", and then brought him back to the room just outside the safe room, just like I had with Freddy.

As we crossed the crumpled remains of Freddy, I heard the Freddy Fazbear machine cry out:

"BROTHER, STOP!"

I quickly ran into the safe room, pulled off the Freddy head, and grabbed my stun gun and crowbar.

Bonnie knelt down at the body of Freddy, which continued to speak:

"QUICKLY! GET OUT BEFORE HE-"

But in the next moment, I was upon Bonnie, sending another powerful energy surge through its body to take it down. Both machines screamed as the Bonnie machine collapsed.

"Ah, so _that is_ which one you are!" I said to Freddy. "You are that little girl who insisted on getting some _cake_ along with her little brother, and this one-" I said, turning to the Bonnie machine and stuffing my crowbar directly under the neck, "must be little imp who spilled soda all over my BLUEPRINTS!"

I immediately took out the circuit board that handled the coordination of movement between the head and the rest of the body, permanently paralyzing the machine with the minimum amount of effort.

The Bonnie machine screeched out a half-human cry: "NO... HANNA! …. I'M … SORRY!"

I laughed. "HA! Well, little boy, I do NOT accept your apology." I knew full well that he had not been apologizing to me, but I was having fun with them.

"You have caused me enormous trouble, you see. If you had just had the good sense to stay dead, then I would not have to torture you, your sister, and your friends now! Keep watching, boy. I want you to pay close attention to what happens next."

Retrieving my Freddy head, I walked back out to the stage only to see that Chica had left the stage. I looked south toward the main dining area. She was not there, either.

I headed down the east hall toward the security office, and it was there that I encountered her, entering from the west hall. I stated to her: "follow me", and she followed. We went up north to the dining area and I continued to the east toward the kitchen area and safe room, but Chica, while she initially was following me closely, had started to wander off-track, heading back toward the dining area briefly before coming back my way.

I decided not to leave this to chance. I left her behind and quickly made my way to the safe room. I pulled off the Freddy head, I slipped the stun gun into my left front pocket, I put the crowbar into the right side of my belt, and I came out with the axe in my right hand.

I came back out, and the Freddy and Bonnie machines started calling out:  
"LOOK OUT!" "STAY AWAY!" "IT'S THE PURPLE GUY!"

I broke into a sprint, pulling out the stun gun, and crashing into Chica, still one room away to the west, in front of all of the dining tables, blasting her with a load of electricity, then immediately switching to the crowbar to break the motor circuits. At this point, I realized that the stun gun was out of energy, and it would take several minutes, if not hours, to completely recharge.

"NOOO!" Chica called out. "TEO! **TEO HELP US!** " The Chica machine screamed at the speaker's maximum volume. For a brief moment, I considered turning her over to break the speaker, but I could hear movement far on the west side of the restaurant. I immediately dropped the crowbar, letting it clatter to the floor, and I picked up the axe, while quickly backing away toward the safe room.

Thump-thump-thump-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP

I could hear Foxy approaching rapidly. I gripped the axe firmly and put myself into a defensive stance. I knew I had only a second or two to think. I held the axe almost like a baseball bat and waited for the animatronic to arrive. I positioned myself in the hallway so that there was only one direction from which he could approach me, and I had the safe room to my back, so that I could, conceivably, escape into it if necessary, but I did not anticipate such a need. I was going to end this right there.

I dropped the flashlight to the floor, still on, so that I could see down the hallway, and just in time, I saw the Foxy machine charging in a full sprint right for me, only a few feet away. I gritted my teeth, quickly knelt down to my left, and swung the axe as hard as I could, cleaving right through Foxy's right leg. His body twisted and fell, still moving forward with such momentum that he crashed right into the wall while skidding across the floor, slamming hard into the concrete.

I quickly turned around, knowing that Foxy's fight would not be completely over just yet. Foxy tried to stand on his left leg, the one that was still intact, and lunge for me with his hook, but I had caught him in time, swung the axe upward, and caught the hook directly in the axe's blade. My eyes met Foxy's as he realized that he had utterly failed to kill me, and I grinned as I twisted the axe's blade and pulled down firmly, ripping the hook right off of Foxy's arm and pulling Foxy face-down onto the floor. At that point, his back was exposed, and I wasted no time in breaking the motor circuits.

My heart was pounding, my face was flushed, and I was sweating and breathing heavily. It was quite satisfying, actually, and I was very eager to take my final revenge on them.

"Wonderful! Now the gang is all here!" I declared loudly for all of the machines to hear me.

"You all thought that you could defeat me with these stolen bodies, bodies that _I created,_ since these bodies are stronger and tougher than what you had before. HA! Teo here even tried the same technique he tried on me when he was alive, that is to say, the strategy of charging blindly at someone who is better prepared for this than you are."

This was such a wonderful moment, I was deeply savoring it.

"You all are such fools! As I was telling 'Freddy' earlier, stronger bodies are not enough. I am much too smart for you. How does it feel knowing that, no matter how strong you become, you can _NEVER_ defeat me? How does it feel to be killed by me a _SECOND TIME?!_ I am going to enjoy this!"

I took my time and paced myself, now that they were all incapacitated. I would mount them one at a time, standing on them, and swinging the axe down onto their exposed, helpless, mechanical bodies, and with each strike, I was rewarded by their screams of pain, fear, and anger. I reveled in their pain, and with the rush of endorphins from the exertion and from the satisfaction, I could not help but laugh while doing it.

I did allow them to remain "conscious" for most of it, but ultimately, their screams turned to sobs, my arms got a bit tired, and it was time to put them all down. I imagined that their function still was predicated on the processing of the main CPU inside of each of them, so when I was ready to call it a night, I smashed the CPUs inside of each of their heads, and I watched the life disappear from their eyes.

I slumped down against the wall and laughed. I had utterly won. They had outnumbered me with stronger bodies, and I had killed them all... again!

I looked out over my handiwork, the crumpled, broken, mangled bodies of the animatronics, and then I saw something else that was unexpected. From each of their bodies, a small, gray, ghostly image of a child arose. Tears stained their cheeks, and they turned to look at me with totally black, sunken sockets where their eyes would have been. I instinctively clutched the axe again and stood back up.

They began approaching me. "Oh, yeah? What now, huh?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO TO ME NOW?!" I yelled.

Hanna, the the ghost from the Freddy machine, got closer to me and, without really thinking it through, I swung the axe at her neck. Of course, the axe passed right through with no effect. She reached out to touch my hand, and as her hand touched mine, I felt a terrible, freezing pain stab at my hand, causing me to jerk back and drop the axe, not as though it would do me any good anymore anyway.

"AH!" I yelped, starting to back up as the other children approached. "DON'T YOU TOUCH ME!" I yelled.

I walked into the safe room, and they followed. Of course, the animatronics were bound by the programming I had made, but these apparitions were not. I looked at my hand where she had touched me. The veins were raised, and the skin was a bit discolored. This was not good. I looked around. I had to think of something quickly.

The yellow Spring Bonnie suit lay against the side of the room, and I quickly went for it, rapidly entering it in order to pilot it.

I looked back out at my ghostly attackers. "How about THIS, huh?!" I asked. "You ALL recognize THIS face; I KNOW you do!" The ghostly children had stopped approaching me.

"THIS! Is the LAST face you ever saw! This is the face you watched as you were DYING!"

A fifth ghostly child started to appear among the other four, but I ignored it at first.

"You see?! You think that you can terrify ME?! NO! YOU ARE not the stuff of MY nightmares! **I AM THE STUFF OF YOURS!** "

"not mine" said the new ghost, getting closer to me than any of the others.

"Huh?" I asked. It was difficult to make out any features from the different ghosts, as their images all seemed to fade and blur when I attempted to focus directly at one of them. However, I recognized this voice. Freddy Pryor.

"You weren't wearing that face when you killed _me_." He continued. I took a step back. He continued. "You remember how you killed _me_? You locked me inside one of those machines, and..."

I backed away from him until I hit the wall behind me. With the impact of hitting the wall, I felt something inside the suit jostle, and I could hear the sliding of old mechanical locks sliding out of place.

I tried to reach for the release latch on the underside of the hand, but it was too late. The spring-locks had come loose, the machine was reverting to its animatronic state. I felt sharp pointed wedges and pressurized pistons thrusting into my body, ripping into my muscles and other internal organs. Still conscious, I desperately pulled at the pieces of the suit, but only a few of my muscle groups were still intact, and I had not the strength to do anything to resist. I could feel my blood lubricating the inside of the machine, and my struggling only caused more blood to issue forth into the inside of the suit.

I fell backward and died.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _As many of you may know, the events depicted here are not canon. I intended them to be fairly close (with a little artistic liberty taken here and there for the purpose of crafting a fun story) to the canon events when I started the story, but when I started, there were only three Five Nights at Freddy's games, and I was not expecting there to be any more afterward._

 _At any rate, after Five Nights at Freddy's 4 and the other pieces of the story came out, basically further diverging from my originally outlined story, I had a choice to make, whether to retroactively adapt my story to the new canon, to give up on my story, or continue it how I originally envisioned it._

 _I decided that to try to adapt my story to the new canon would be clunky and awkward. It would feel oddly patched-together. I decided instead to keep writing the way I originally imagined, leaving out the bite of '87 entirely, rather than trying to make it fit with either my original timeline or with the canon, knowing full well that the story overall would not fit with canon, but I hope that you can all enjoy it as much as I have been enjoying writing it._

 _We are not finished, yet! There is still more to happen. Stay subscribed to story alerts, and I promise to finish this very soon!_


	24. Nightmare

_Author's Note:_

 _Here we go. Springtrap's story ends._

* * *

 **Nightmare**

My lungs had stopped. My heart had stopped. I was dead, but instead of the oblivion I once thought awaited me, I was greeted with something entirely different, something that better explained my recent dealings with my former victims.

A grim visage appeared before me. A hooded and cloaked figure stood before me and spoke my name.

"Vincent. Your terrible life is over. You must now come with me."

The voice was loud and deep, and as the figure spoke, it extended a bony finger toward me.

"Oh?" I responded, struggling to speak through the pain that still wracked my body and soul. " _Must_ I? Must I _really?_ "

"All things must die, Vincent Blakeslee. Your soul is one of the most corrupt that I have ever seen. It must be purged of its evil that you may be laid to rest."

"HA! _Rest?!_ " I spat angrily. "What if I do not _want_ to rest? Hmm?" I could still feel bursts of pain shooting through me, the cross-beams and gears still digging into my necrotic flesh, but I slowly started to harness the pain to motivate me, rather than to slow me down. I continued to question the hooded figure. "And why should I follow some constumed nutjob claiming to be Death? Is that ensemble of a hood, cloak, and bony hand not a little cliché?"

The figure then summoned a large scythe into its hands, which it struck against the ground with a resounding CLANG. Its hood flew back revealing a skull with eyes burning a dim red.

" **My visage befits the sins of the soul I reap, Vincent! Do not doubt my station!** " the voice boomed angrily.

"HA!" I retorted. "Your attempt at intimidation is a failure. A spectre of Death itself though you may be, if you really had power over me, you would have exercised it already. If that scythe were capable of 'reaping' me..." I took a brief moment to focus myself beyond the pain. "... you would have used it already. No, you cannot touch me. Not without my... consent. Clearly that must be the case, or else I would not even BE IN THIS SITUATION!"

The figure of Death seemed speechless for a moment, so I continued.

"You CLEARLY are not doing your job appropriately! Are you not aware of the five little hellions who put me here? If they can deny you, then SO CAN I!"

Death appeared to consider their next move for a moment, and then responded.

"Those are lost souls. There is nothing that I can do to save them, now. They are outside of my gasp, due to... interference. So long as they remain so, they are beyond help. They may be condemned to roam the world in pain and rage for eternity, never able to rest, but you... though it is better than you deserve, you can achieve the rest that eludes them."

"Oh?" I asked incredulously. "Really? This reaper oh so grim is going to just take me aside and give me a pleasant, restful sleep? I highly doubt that. You threaten me with the pain of this world, but you mentioned earlier something about 'purging' my soul, and forgive me if that does not seem particularly pleasant."

"Indeed, your sins have been most grievous, and the punishment, the pain you must endure for the evil to be purged from your soul, is equally grievous. However, just as your sins, though grievous, are finite, so too will be your punishment. If you submit to me and endure it, then you will eventually rest. No such relief awaits those who choose to remain."

I growled in anger. The pain persisted, but I had already begun to master it. Physical pain can only go so far. Nerves deaden and the mind adapts. "HA!" I responded. "I would not accept your rest if it came WITHOUT punishment! I recognize no authority over me, reaper, and I REFUSE TO SUBMIT!"

The skeletal figure's glowing eyes dimmed to black as the figure paused for a few seconds. Then, the scythe it was wielding disappeared, and the voice uttered its last to me.

"So be it."

And the figure was gone.

As this vision faded, in its place, I was left with a dark, shadowy figure, much less distinct than the reaper I had just faced. It looked like nothing in particular but a hazy void in a region of my vision, a void that seemed to shift the more I tried to focus on it.

 _Well done, Vincent! I did not even have to intercede on your behalf!_ The shade spoke to me.

"And who the hell are you?" I responded.

 _Ha... an amusing choice of words. For now, know that I..._ really _like you, Vincent, and I want to give you more power._

Never one to be taken in by flattery, I replied suspiciously, "What do you want with me?"

 _Oh?_ the voice replied almost cheerfully. _At this time, I merely want you to do... exactly what you want to do! I want you to keep doing what you enjoy. To better answer your earlier question about 'who' I am, Death mentioned interference preventing the reaping of those souls. I am the source of that interference._

"You!" I replied in shocked anger. "You let them DO THIS TO ME!"

 _And you want revenge._ I _want to help you achieve that._ The shade continued. _Indeed, that was most unfortunate for you that they chose to abuse their powers in that way. Honestly, Vincent, I no longer want them to have free rein here. I think that, now that you are here, you are in the best position to take control. Meet them on their level, and punish them._

"What do you want?" I asked again.

 _As I told you! At this time, I want you to carry out your revenge. I will lend you some of my power to do so. I will bind your soul to that machine carrying your old body, and I will show you how to channel your pain and rage to use to manipulate those other ghosts. Each of them is already bound here, either directly or indirectly, by hatred for you. Now, your own hatred for them will give you power over them._

"Fine... do it." I replied, still not fully trusting that being.

Though I could not see it clearly, by its tone, it almost seemed to be grinning in response.

 _It is already done._

At that point, my vision returned to normal. I was this body that you see before you now. However, days had passed in this world during the conversation that I had had with the two spectral entities. The safe room had been bricked up and walled off, and I was trapped in that small space for a very long time.

However, I was not alone. I had my little... puppets, and I enjoyed playing with them. All six of them. I could feel their presence nearby, and with my will, I inspired yet deeper pain and rage, and as time went on, my command over their souls became stronger. Their minds slowly deteriorated in my grasp. It was a delicious revenge for all of the pain that they had shown me, to drive them mad with violence and rage, leading them in circles almost unable to even remember who they were or what they were doing. Almost. That glimmer of humanity left in them that cried out in despair each and every night was one of the most satisfying parts of all of this.

It was not the only satisfying part, though. At one point, I felt Leonard's presence, as well, and though I, myself, was unable to reach him to crush him with my own hands, I was able to drive my puppets to kill him for me. I could not see him, but I could feel his fear and his pain. It was so satisfying. His soul did not linger as mine and the children's did, though, so my ability to torture him ended there.

* * *

"So that was it, then." Karl responded thoughtfully. So much finally made sense that had never quite added up before. This was truly a breakthrough that would lead to much more productive supernatural research in the near future.

Springtrap continued. "I have a feeling that our time this morning is almost up, Karl, but I do have more to tell you that I think that you will find most interesting. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow."

"Right. Goodnight, Vincent." Karl stood up as the clock just about reached 6:00 AM. Karl's mind was swimming with ideas about his further research as he prepared to go home to sleep. It was Sunday, so he, once again, had no need to come into the lab to work, so he would be well rested when he went to speak with Salina again that evening.

Arriving home, Karl wondered about the possibilities. Could they prompt Springtrap to exert some of his... "soul" power in a controlled environment? Could they bring in detectors to scan the local field for electromagnetic fields or other potential media by which he might be exercising his power? Perhaps they could connect electrodes to his body and determine exactly how that ghostly entity is capable of directing the motion of that body and producing the sound that it does.

The information about these other extra-worldly entities was also intriguing. A "Death" entity and some other, darker thing. If Springtrap could be compelled to summon either of them, perhaps they could be studied as well.

For the first time in a long time, Karl slept well, excited about his future, and confident in his ultimate success.

That evening, Karl was eager to reach the coffee shop to meet Salina, and sure enough, there she was, waiting with two Swiss mocha coffees.

"Hey!" She called out to him, waving.

"Well, hello, Salina!" Karl replied.

"You certainly seem happy this evening!"

"I certainly am! I made quite a breakthrough in my research!"

"Oh? With the... insects and stuff you mentioned before?"

"No, actually. I have been working on my own, independent research for the last week, and I am really proud with what I have accomplished. It's... it's just opened up a whole new set of opportunities!"

"Wow! I'm so happy for you, Karl! Please tell me more about it!"

Salina had a beaming smile. She was genuinely excited to see Karl happier than she had ever seen him, and eager for this opportunity to learn more about him and the things about which he was passionate.

Karl smiled in response. "I am actually pretty excited to tell _you_ , particularly about this, Salina," he said, taking her hand in his across the table.

"Oh? Why is that?" Salina asked, blushing slightly.

"Because you have actually been very helpful in it."

Salina's hand twitched, her expression gained a note of confusion.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I have been investigating ghosts and... spiritual possessions." Salina's pulse increased. She was not sure why, but she had a bad feeling about this, that she was not going to like whatever he said next, though she tried to keep an open mind until he actually spoke.

Karl continued. "I was really trying to learn more about the children that had been killed at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza those decades ago, and interviewing you was really helpful in putting the pieces together."

" _Interviewing?"_ Salina thought to herself. She pulled her hand back.

Oblivious, Karl continued in giddy excitement "Oh, but that was not even the best part!" Karl paused, seemingly for dramatic effect. "I found _him_!"

"...Who?" Salina asked, afraid of the answer.

"The one who chased you around Fazbear's Fright! It turns out his name is 'Vincent'-"

"He's still _alive?!_ " Salina replied in horror.

Karl was startled by her response, but replied quickly "Oh, no, don't worry! He's chained up in the bottom of a bunker; there's no way he can-"

"How do you know his _name_?" Salina asked, her voice shaking.

"Well... he _told_ me." Karl responded. "Like I said, he's chained up, and there's no way he can get out. I've been interviewing him every day and learning _so much_ about the events-"

" _Interviewing."_ There was that word again, Salina thought painfully.

"Oh. Like how you were 'interviewing' me?" Salina replied coldly.

"Huh?" Karl, for the first time in this conversation, became seriously concerned. He did not understand Salina's reaction, but he did not want to upset her. "Well, no, I mean... you're free to go anytime, it's not like him at all." Seeing the lines furrow on Salina's face, Karl quickly changed his tactic. "No! I mean, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that at all. I'm not just 'interviewing' you. I mean, that's why I first sought you out, of course, but this is really nice hanging out with you and stuff!"

After a long, uncomfortable pause, Salina replied. "What do you expect me to say to this, Karl?"

"I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I just... I thought you'd be excited for-"

"Excited?!" Salina's voice was starting to attract the attention of nearby coffee shop patrons. Karl looked around nervously embarrassed. "You think that I would be excited to learn that my- my new 'friend' has been milking me for information and has the _psychopath_ who tried to _kill me_ chained up in his basement, and that you go and have yourselves a friendly _chat_ every _day?!_ "

Karl responded in a hissing whisper. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please keep your voice down!" Karl continued in not so much a hiss but a very low tone of voice, hoping to calm Salina down. "I know, it's awful. What he did was awful, and it's awful that he's still alive, but... there's just so much we can still _learn_ -"

"OH, FUCK YOU, KARL!" Salina shouted, then walked out of the coffee shop. Several patrons looked over at the woman with bloodshot eyes storming out of the shop and at the crestfallen young man still sitting in the booth, still frozen in his last pose momentarily, petrified by the embarrassment and shame.

Karl slowly lowered his head into his hands. This had not gone at all how he had hoped. It was not just the humiliation of being told off in front of the other patrons. Salina's words really stung him deeply, more deeply than he had expected.

Karl reached out to his cup of mocha, hoping to take a sip to ease his nerves, but... he couldn't take a sip. He was disgusted. He felt sick to his stomach. His hands were shaking. Karl took several slow, deep breaths attempting to calm himself.

Karl went back to his car and sat there for a while. Why had Salina's words cut so deeply? Why was he still shaking? As Karl slowly calmed down, he started to realize the answer. "She was right." Karl said out loud to himself.

"What am I doing?" Karl asked himself. He considered how Salina had described what he was doing, chatting every day with a psychopath he has chained up in his basement. Karl considered in a new light everything that had been getting him so excited just earlier that morning. Putting under a metaphorical microscope all of these things, the souls of these children, the souls of murderers like Vincent. Oh, god, even Death itself, or at least that spectre that had presented itself to Vincent as such.

"Maybe..." Karl thought to himself. "Maybe there _are_ things... mankind shouldn't mess with." It was a rather cliché trope, Karl thought to himself, one at which he had always scoffed before. Even now, his inner scientist was urging him to ignore Salina's outburst and continue with his planned research, but Karl's emotions insisted that he put an end to this whole, sick scheme. He simply could not shake the feeling that he was treading on something sacred... or at least more dangerous than he had considered.

He weighed these two perspectives, these conflicting courses of action as he headed back to the bunker. It was almost time to meet Springtrap again.

Karl pulled up to the entrance and rode the elevator the long way down with the cargo he had picked up at a store along the way. He had made up his mind. This conversation with Springtrap was going to be a brief one.

* * *

As it became midnight, Karl spoke into the microphone and addressed his prisoner.

"Good morning... Springtrap."

Springtrap winced.

"Good morning, Karl. Let me continue with my story. For a long time, I was left to rot in that old building, even after living people had stopped visiting, until I was discovered and moved to a new place, and it was in that place that I finally got the chance to move around and go hunting, myself. Though the bodies of my victims had been taken away, their souls were still under my thrall-"

"Until _she_ stopped you." Karl replied.

"... What?" Springtrap answered.

Karl smiled smugly as he responded. "I actually happen to _know_ the rest of the story, Springtrap!"

"... _do_ you now?"

"Yes! A brave young woman named Salina Bone was able not only to keep you running in circles, unable to harm her, but also to free each of those poor children from your control!"

"Salina... Bone. So _that was_ her name." Springtrap replied with an air of satisfaction in his voice.

"Not that it will do you any good, Springtrap. This ends today."

"Is that so, warden? It looks like my parole came through and I am finally going free, then! I can hardly wait to get back to hunting." Springtrap replied sarcastically.

"Ha! Hardly. I'm going to keep an eye on you until you deactivate at 6:00 AM, and then I'm going to kill you, Springtrap."

"HA! AH-HAHAHAHA! YOU'RE going to KILL ME? You're going to put your _helpless prisoner_ to death? How _evil_ of you!" Springtrap responded, tauntingly.

"That won't work on me, Springtrap. You're nothing but a psychopathic... _sadist_. You're the _worst_ kind of scum. You should have been dead decades ago. I'm just going to finish the job."

Why was Springtrap still acting so smug, Karl wondered. Surely he knows how helpless he is.

"How, pray tell, do you think you even _can_ kill something like me, Karl?"

Karl cleared his throat. "I brought a couple of tanks of propane, Springtrap. I'm not like you; I won't torture you. You have until 6:00 AM to give me your last words, and while you're asleep, I'm going to burn your body to ash. When that's done, I'm going to douse the ashes with holy water and surround them with a line of salt."

"HO-hohoho! _Really_? Holy water and _salt_? For someone once _so_ dedicated to _science_ , you seem to have gone off the deep end with the hocus-pocus, Karl."

"Laugh all you want. I'm not taking any chances. Talking with you has taught me that there are things that exist in this world beyond what I had previously thought real. Maybe one of those things will help me here."

"Very well, but you missed an important part of the answer to the question. How do you expect to _survive_ until six AM?"

Karl felt a chill run through his spine. "W- what are you talking about?"

"How thick are the bolts in these restraints? Hmm... by the looks of them, about a quarter inch. And how deep into the concrete do they go, Karl?"

Karl did not respond.

"Three inches, maybe?" Springtrap continued. " _Iron_ bolts, it would seem. Not likely tempered by the looks of them."

"You're bluffing, Springtrap. If you could break out of those bonds, you would have done it long ago." Karl said to reassure himself as much as to put down Springtrap.

"Oh, not at all, Karl. I enjoyed talking to you. I honestly did. I have never been able to share my life story before, and it was actually quite satisfying. I even got to relive some... very interesting moments of my life, thanks to you."

Springtrap suddenly jerked forward, rattling the restraints again. Karl shook with a start. He could hear a grinding sound coming from inside the chamber, and it was not just coming through the speakers. He could hear it reverberating through the structure.

Springtrap continued. "I would have enjoyed continuing to share with you, but, well, you _did_ threaten to kill me, after all." Springtrap leaned further forward, the bolts in the concrete loosening ever so slightly.

"And now, well, killing you will not even be murder! It will be self-defense. I have never killed anyone without it being murder before. Neither have I killed anyone as old as you. I wonder if it will feel any less satisfying? At any rate, I really do want to get back to hunting. There is simply nothing like that look of absolute terror in someone's eyes when they realize that they have royally fucked up and that I am about to kill them. …. **RRRAAAAGH!** "

With his last utterance, Springtrap lunged forward, ripping his iron restraints right out of the wall with enough momentum to shatter the mirrored window in front of him. A shower of broken glass assaulted Karl as he dove under the console. Karl slowly lifted his head, barely able to believe what was happening. Springtrap stood free of his restraints and, for the first time, could see Karl's face directly. To this, Springtrap replied.

"YES! That's the look!"

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing so far! I really look forward to reading your reviews and seeing what you think! I am so excited to have gotten this far, and I want to know all of your reactions._

 _Our exciting conclusion awaits!_


	25. Bad ending

_Author's Note:_

 _I hope you enjoy the big showdown! Thanks so much, as always, for your continued readership, reviews, and kind messages!_

* * *

 **Bad ending.**

Karl stared in shock for what felt like a whole minute, but was likely only a couple of seconds, his mind screaming at him to run, but he was too stunned by what had just happened to even move. Springtrap, the vicious undead killer, had broken right out of Karl's restraints and in so doing had knocked over the table and trays in his chamber, sending his old, rusty hand-crank clattering to the floor.

Karl could not believe it, it could not be happening. How could everything be going so wrong, he wondered. As soon as Springtrap started to move forward toward him, however, Karl regained control of himself, stood up, and sprinted for the exit. There was no way that he could beat such a strong machine in a fight. He had to escape.

"Not so fast." Karl heard Springtrap mutter from behind him, but Karl ignored it. As he reached the small staircase that led to the main elevator, he was confronted by a dark, tall, grim figure standing on the stairs. Its image was so dark, it took Karl half a second to recognize it as a withered version of the old Foxy the Pirate animatronic. For another split second, Karl wondered what on Earth it could have been doing there, when the machine lunged at him with an ear-splitting scream.

Karl shrieked and fell backwards, throwing his hands up to defend himself, but no impact came. It was not until he opened his eyes that he realized that he had just experienced the same kind of hallucination that Salina had described having when the ventilation system failed at Fazbear's Fright.

In the time that he had been distracted by this vision, however, Springtrap had all but closed the gap between them. Springtrap was already bending over to grab Karl, so he no longer had time to stand up. He rolled sharply to his left as quickly as possible, barely eluding Springtrap's grasp, but placing Springtrap between Karl and the exit.

This was bad.

Karl now had only two ways to go. This bunker was not a simple fallout shelter meant for a single family; it had been designed for military applications. He had only visited two of the rooms so far, the security office and the observation chamber where he had kept Springtrap this week, but there were many other old hallways, offices, and storage areas. Now, Karl could either head deeper into the dim and unfamiliar labyrinth of the bunker, or head into the observation chamber, where he would be cornered quickly. There was only one choice, and Karl scrambled up and into the halls.

As strong as Springtrap was, he could not cover ground quite as quickly as Karl could. Most of the bunker's lights had burned out, but a few old fluorescent lighting fixtures were still flickering, adding an eerie glow to the whole place. It was just bright enough to be able to tell where the walls were while being dark enough that every shadow seemed to have a life of its own, a hole that could hold nearly any threat.

After a couple of random turns in an attempt to lose Springtrap's sight, Karl ducked into an old office. All that remained in it were a bare metal table and a couple of matching chairs. Most of the equipment and documentation had been removed decades ago. Karl crouched near the doorway hoping to be able to hear if Springtrap was approaching, but surprisingly, he heard nothing. No sound of footsteps whatsoever. He only heard the sound of his own labored breathing and the sound of his heart beating heavily in his chest as Karl desperately attempted to stifle his breath and calm down.

Karl was grateful that, at least for the immediate moment, he appeared to be safe. He tried to think. How could he possibly defeat something so strong? Also, he knew that he would be wise not to underestimate Springtrap's intellect. Karl tried to think of any weaknesses that Springtrap had.

Karl remembered that Springtrap appeared to be limited to the functions of his robotic body. As Karl had learned from Salina, he seemed unable to resist his programming in certain cases. He could not do anything that the machine, itself, could not do. Springtrap could not function except between midnight and 6:00. He could not resist following the sound of a child's voice, even when he knew it was just a recording. He was made of thick, heavy metal, but he had some limitations.

That metal was ridiculously strong, if Karl was not careful, it could easily crush him, just like...

That's it! The suit killed Vincent when it snapped back into animatronic mode, and now Vincent's soul was controlling it as an animatronic, limited to doing only what the animatronic, itself, can do. If Karl could turn it back into a suit, then Springtrap would be incapable of moving. The human body inside was no longer controlling anything. Karl just needed the hand-crank.

The good news was that he knew exactly where it was. The bad news was that, unless Springtrap had moved it, it was inside the observation chamber. If Karl went back there, he would be cornered. Ideally, he would get there, grab the hand-crank, and then sneak up on Springtrap to use it.

Karl remembered where the socket was for it. He remembered Vincent telling him about it. It was in the back of the left leg... or was it the right? Damn. Karl would just have to guess and hope he was right. Springtrap would not give him a second chance.

First, however, Karl would have to get back to the observation chamber, but how? He would have to make sure that Springtrap could not see him as he went back, but where _was_ he? Karl had not heard him follow, but _surely_ Springtrap would not just be waiting back at the entrance. They _both_ knew that all Karl had to do to survive was to wait for 6:00 and then leave. Springtrap had to have a plan for eliminating Karl before then. Karl gulped and tried again to slow his breathing and pulse in order to listen more closely for movement.

"THERE YOU ARE!" The voice came clear through the public address speakers in one of the upper corners of the office. Karl could not help but let out a yelp before clutching his hands to his face.

"I admit it took some experimentation before I was able to figure out the controls to this security office. It is much different from the horror attraction where I met Miss... Bone was it?"

Springtrap was speaking to Karl through the speaker system, but Karl wondered if Springtrap could really see him or if he was just bluffing.

"Well, I could just leave you here, you know. I could even break this elevator and trap you down here forever if I wanted. The night is still young, Karl. I could leave this place and be free. There is plenty of time left for me to find many other victims while you huddle here in the darkness, you _coward_."

Karl could not deny anything that Springtrap was saying. Karl couldn't help but feel guilty and deeply ashamed for having allowed this to go so wrong.

"Worry not, Karl. I am not going to do that, at least not yet." Springtrap's voice then changed, sounding deeper and even more sinister "I am going to find you, _first_ , Karl. I do not like to leave anything unfinished. I am going to hunt you down and finish you. This bunker is where you die, Karl. Right now, I can see you. I can see you in office... 2A it appears, the second door on the right going down the far hall."

Karl looked up at the doorframe and felt his blood run cold as he observed the sign "2A".

"I will be coming for you, Karl, but you must ask yourself: 'when?'. Maybe I will stay at this console after I turn off the microphone, just to see to where you run before leaving to come catch you. Or maybe I will leave right away. Maybe you should stay in that office for a few minutes... or maybe you had better run while you have the chance. Of course, you could also just run around the bunker wildly, then I would be _certain_ to find you easily! Yes... run like a chicken with its _head cut off_. Ha, ha, ha!"

Karl heard the microphone cut off, and then noticed that he was hyperventilating. His vision was blurring into a tunnel, and his fingers were tingling, going numb.

 _No, no, no! This can't be happening!_ Karl thought to himself.

Springtrap was, above all else, a sadist. He enjoyed causing panic in Karl. In order to win, Karl _had_ to keep his wits about him. Springtrap was not entirely correct about Karl not knowing when Springtrap would be coming for him. Springtrap's steps were heavy. Karl would be able to hear them, as long as he was able to avoid panicking. Karl just needed to wait for those first heavy footfalls and then carefully, as quietly as possible, make his way out of the office and around Springtrap's location in order to get back to the observation room to grab the hand-crank.

Karl took deep, slow breaths and waited. It was not long, after all, before he heard the distant "whump" sound of Springtrap moving out into the hallways toward him. Karl slowly raised himself to a crouching position and moved out of the office. He made his way further away from the security office, hoping desperately that he would find a side corridor and not a dead end.

Karl lucked out, finding a side corridor that allowed him to get back around behind Springtrap, who was likely just about to where Karl had originally been hiding.

Karl got back to the security office where the lights were still bright, and the camera console was still up.

Karl glanced at it to confirm his previous suspicion. The time was 1:00, and Springtrap was, indeed, in the same office where Karl had been hiding a moment before. Springtrap was just starting to grab the table there, presumably to lift it up to look for Karl. Karl decided he had no time to sit and watch Springtrap wander around. It was time to get that hand-crank.

 _But wait_ , Karl thought to himself. _I'm right here by the exit. I could just escape now._

Karl briefly considered the potential threat posed by Springtrap if he managed to get out, too, but decided that he could not bear to deal with that. It was too dangerous to try to shut him down here. Karl decided that he would just escape, and wait for another day to deal with whatever happened as a result.

Karl ran up the stairs to the elevator platform and pressed the elevator call button.

Nothing happened.

 _What?!_ Karl wondered, shocked and starting to panic again.

Karl hit the button several more times, but nothing happened at all. The door did not open, but he could hear air in a hollow chamber just beyond the door. The elevator wasn't there.

 _Has someone called it? I'm the only one here. I'm the only one who knows about this place, so..._

 _Did Springtrap somehow get out while I wasn't looking?! Did he take the elevator up? Did he break it like he said? Oh, god! Maybe he broke it, trapping me down here forever!_

Shakily, Karl returned to the security office to check the cameras again, to see if he could spot Springtrap again. Karl _did_ see Springtrap, but not on the cameras. Springtrap was there standing in the doorway from the security office to the rest of the corridors in the base. Karl was trapped!

He only had one option left. With the elevator out of commission and with Springtrap blocking the path to the other halls, Karl dove into the observation chamber, elated to find that the rusty, old hand-crank was still right there on the floor where Springtrap had left it.

Karl could hear Springtrap charging after him, but Karl was entirely focused on grabbing that hand-crank, no matter what. He picked it up just as Springtrap was about to catch up to him from behind.

Karl quickly sidestepped, ducking to his left. Springtrap, being more massive, was unable to stop and turn as quickly, and with that, Karl finished his full rotation, ending up just behind Springtrap's left leg, with the hand-crank firmly in hand.

That was it! The socket for the hand-crank was right there! Falling to his knees, Karl quickly plunged the hand-crank's geared teeth into the socket.

"What?! What are you-" Springtrap felt something amiss as he turned to see what Karl was doing around his leg.

Now was his chance! Karl gripped the handle so hard he bruised his hand and pushed with all his might to twist the hand-crank, to retract the machine parts in Springtrap's body, to revert him to a helpless suit.

The rusty old hand-crank snapped in half. It never even turned a single notch.

Karl fell forward on his face with the broken-off handle in his hand.

Both Karl and Springtrap remained still for a moment, stunned at this turn of events.

"HA! HA, HA, HA!" Springtrap laughed as he bent down and reached for Karl's neck.

Karl tried to squirm away, but it was too late. He was captured. Springtrap lifted him up to his own eye level.

"Oh, Karl. Bravo! I admit, that was a clever strategy you had there."

Springtrap hurled Karl into the remnants of the table that had been in this room. Karl's head violently struck the table, slamming both him and the table itself into the concrete wall behind them. Karl was dizzy, unable to stand.

Springtrap walked over and, using his left hand, picked Karl up by the neck again.

Panicking, desperate, unable to see or think straight, Karl begged, "P-please! Don't-"

"HA, HA, HA, HA! 'PLEASE'?! I guess that you are OUT of _clever_ strategies, so you have reverted to _stupid_ ones. How disappointing. You... _of_ _all people..._ should know that will get you nowhere with me."

Karl began to sob, "No, I- I don't wanna die!"

"Oh, is that so? Well, then I cannot fathom why you did everything that you did here, Karl. This fate is _entirely_ of _your_ making. You know that, right?"

Karl gasped for air as Springtrap squeezed a little tighter.

"You are the one who came down here _alone_ with _me_ , who made _certain_ that we were in a place where _no one_ could get a signal in or out. _YOU_ are the one who put me in flimsy fetters, without doing _any_ research to determine how strong I was. My _previous_ captor was at least cautious enough to use a massive amount of heavy steel chains."

With his right arm, Springtrap grabbed one of Karl's hands, squeezing it until the bones began to break, causing Karl to scream in pain. "YOU are the one who kept _TAUNTING_ me, when you _KNEW_ that I have _KILLED_ over less! You called me that awful name, you DARED to claim that YOU were in control. AND, perhaps in your STUPIDEST move of all, you TOLD me when you were planning to kill me, and you told me at the beginning of the night, ensuring that I would have as much time as possible to break free and put you down.

"AAAAAGH!" Karl screamed in pain, just recovering himself long enough to speak, "But, ah, wait, Spr- Vincent! Maybe I can help you! We can-"

"Oh, spare me any more, Karl. As curious as I might be to hear what laughable scenario you try to spin in a desperate attempt to save your miserable life, my time is, in fact, limited, and I have several things I want to do after I kill you before I shut down for the day."

Karl sobbed, unable to think of anything, the pain from his head and hand searing through his mind, rendering him incapable of resisting.

"I did enjoy telling you my story, Karl. I honestly did, but our time is at an end. I just wanted you to know, Karl. I wanted you to know that this... is all... your... fault. I just wanted that to be your last thought. Goodbye, Karl."

Lifting Karl higher up into the air, and pressing him firmly against the wall, Springtrap raised his right hand in a fist and slammed it into Karl's chest, crushing his ribcage and bursting his heart. Springtrap then let go, and Karl fell to the floor dead.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Well, that's the end of Karl's story! I hope that you all enjoyed the ride! :D_

 _Please let me know what you thought! I welcome your comments and constructive criticism. I appreciate everyone who has read and reviewed!_

 _Have a wonderful day!_


	26. the end

_Author's Note:_

 _Karl's story may be finished, but **mine** is not. Not quite yet._

* * *

 **the end**

"What am I doing here?" Salina asked herself. She sat in her car outside the old bunker.

After blowing up at Karl at the coffee shop, she had gone back to her car and sat and waited. She was struggling with her emotions, trying to understand why she had lost her cool like that.

She felt deeply hurt, betrayed, even, by Karl. She had been imagining something completely different about how he was relating to her, and even now, she cursed herself, feeling like a complete idiot for having imagined that things might have gone as she had hoped, for having misjudged him and their relationship so badly.

She was shaking, and tears flowed slowly from her eyes. She felt ashamed of letting herself get so emotional, but then she remembered another part of what had made that encounter so terrible. It was not just that feeling that Karl had been using her, it was the revelation that the terrible evil machine, the one that tried to crush her, the one that she thought she had torched years ago, was still alive. This could not be allowed to continue.

As she sat in her seat, she watched as Karl left the coffee shop and sat in his own car for a few moments.

As she focused on the yellow killer bunny machine, she realized another source of her emotional turmoil. Not all of the emotions that she was feeling were her own. After her experience at Fazbear's Fright, she had formed a bond with the ghosts of the dead children, though she could not quite describe it, it was as though she occasionally felt one or more of them with her.

Now, they were all apparently present in her mind, all telling her to finish this.

Karl's car's brake lights and reverse lights came on. Salina knew that he must have been heading to _him_ , to the evil bunny machine. Karl had said that his name was "Vincent". Salina followed Karl.

Salina watched as Karl stopped at a grocery store along the way and picked up two canisters of propane as well as a small shopping bag of other items that she could not quite identify from her distance. Salina felt a bit guilty, like a jealous stalker, but she put those thoughts out of her mind. She was not doing this because of anything to do with Karl personally. If it were only about Karl, she would have gone home, had herself a bit of a cry and moved on, but this was more important. This had to do with the ghosts of those suffering children, and this had to do with their killer, someone whom she had tried to kill and who had tried to kill her, someone who would almost certainly kill again if given the chance.

She wondered why he was picking up propane. Could he actually be planning to destroy Vincent? She tried not to let her hopes get too high. Given everything that he had just told her, that was too optimistic a view. She sneered as she imagined that it was more likely, given his mentality, that he was simply planning to have a cook-out with the homicidal maniac.

She followed Karl's car again until they reached the bunker, and Salina watched as Karl carried the propane and bag of other items into the small portion of the structure that was visible above ground, and there she waited.

"What am I doing here?" She asked herself again. She knew that if she went down after him, it would demonstrate that she had followed him, and that could potentially spell trouble for her. She did not want any further confrontation with Karl. She did not want to be perceived as a crazed stalker. She did not want a restraining order against her to be in the public record.

She sat there for about an hour contemplating the choice before her. Ultimately, she put those doubts behind her. This was more important than simple social courtesy. There was something terrible down below that chamber into which she saw Karl disappear, and that thing had a deep and personal connection to her. She had to see this through to the end, and if Karl flipped out over it, then she would stand her ground, assert herself, and deal with the consequences.

She walked up to the building. Karl had not bothered to lock it. She opened the front door and found a small chamber with an unmanned desk and an elevator. She took a deep breath, let it out, and then pressed the elevator call button. She waited for over a minute for it to finally arrive at the surface level, and she got in. There, in addition to the standard "door open", "door close", and "call" buttons, she saw buttons for only two levels "S" and "B30". "S" likely indicated "Surface", and the other must have been thirty floors down. She pressed the "B30" button and waited as the old machine resumed moving.

While on her way down, she considered the words she would use to confront Karl. She thought about what emotion she would want to project. She thought about how he might react, and how she might try to settle him down.

She thought about "Vincent", and she shuddered.

She finally arrived at the bottom floor, and the doors opened. She turned out of the elevator, taking a few steps down a very short flight of stairs to arrive at another chamber. Near her feet were the two propane tanks that she had seen Karl purchase as well as other items including a bottle of some clear liquid, a couple of butane lighters, and a canister of salt. Next to them was a sprinkling of broken glass. Above them was a decades-old security console with large switches and buttons. Above that, a broken window, and beyond that window...

"KARL!" Salina called out, seeing his slumped body against the cracked wall.

"So, it _is_ you." a voice emerged from beside Salina, startling her. She turned to her right and nearly fell down from shock at what she saw before her. It was _him_.

"It has been far too long, Salina. How have you been?"

Salina backed away from Springtrap towards Karl's body, her heart racing. She managed to stammer, "How... how did you know-"

"Your name? I have been in close touch with Mister Hochberg over there. Oh, the fun we had reliving good times of the past. However, I am terribly sorry to inform you, Miss Bone, that it appears I have broken your boyfriend's heart before you ever got the chance. HA!" Springtrap taunted.

Karl's body was clearly dead. His skin was grossly discolored from the massive internal bleeding, his face was pale, and his eyes wide open and glassy.

Salina's heart caught in her throat. It was terrible to see him like that. She was angry with him, frustrated with his attitude, but... he didn't deserve this. No one deserved this. No one should ever have to go through this again. She strengthened her resolve. She would put an end to Springtrap once and for all that night, no matter the cost.

Springtrap continued advancing toward Salina. "This is, indeed, a wonderful night. Not only did I get to kill my would-be captor, but I also get to see you again. The one that got away." Springtrap growled. "I can still feel the flames from the last time we met. The burns never go away, you know. I am going to enjoy putting you through just as much torture as you gave me. This is going to be _so_ much more satisfying than it was killing that pitiful, whimpering boy. I hope you do not break down and cry and beg for mercy as quickly as he did. Eventually, of course, but not right away."

"YOU MONSTER!" Salina cried.

"Said the sheep to the wolf." Springtrap replied calmly.

Springtrap was taking his time, savoring every step he made toward Salina. She was planning her next move. If he approached her into one corner, coming along the wall, she could dive to the side and get around him. That was something she remembered from their last confrontation in Fazbear's Fright. He was able to shrug off most burning debris, but his mobility was limited. He could not change direction quickly enough to avoid the impact that had put him down before. It was not until half the place had come down around them, a whole side of the roof collapsing directly on his body that he had finally stopped moving, and like a fool, she had thought him dead for good, grateful that she had managed to survive somehow.

She waited for him to start to extend himself by reaching for her before she ducked down and dove to her right, barely evading his grip. She could feel his fingers graze her hair. She sprinted around the room to get back out of the observation chamber and over to the security console to grab the propane tank. It was her only chance.

"Stop right there." Springtrap said calmly, and the vision of the dark, burned, and withered Freddy Fazbear appeared directly in front of Salina. She immediately recognized it as one of the hallucinations from Fazbear's Fright and moved to walk right through it. It began to lunge at her as she had expected, bracing herself mentally, but just as it reached her, it stopped and stared at her with eyes that seemed to have some consciousness behind them. This was new.

The Freddy Fazbear figure shimmered briefly, a wave of light passing over its body, replacing the burned and broken pieces with fresh, bright, and new looking fur. 

"It's you!" Freddy Fazbear said.

"What are you DOING?!" Springtrap yelled. "STOP HER!"

Freddy yelled and clutched his head in pain, falling to his knees. After another wave of light, his image was replaced by that of a ghostly young child, a blonde girl. Salina recognized her from her dreams, from the visions from Fazbear's Fright. This time, however, instead of being a drab gray, she had a slight blue tint to her monochromatic and ghostly form. She looked up at Salina and said "It hurts so much, but... you came back for us!" Both Salina and Springtrap were stunned to watch this. "I can't do much, but... I'll help you! I'll do whatever I can. We all will." With that, the girl disappeared.

Springtrap's patience had worn out. "USELESS! You will PAY for that later! Now, STOP HER!"

A withered Foxy appeared before Salina, and this time, she extended her arms. Foxy leapt toward her, but as he collided with her, he reverted to a twelve year-old blonde boy, wrapping his arms around Salina. "I'm so sorry!" the boy cried. "We c-couldn't stop him! But... with you here. We can!"

Springtrap erupted in anger. "WORTHLESS TRASH! You will ALL pay! I have to do EVERYTHING MYSELF!"

He charged forward toward Salina, still being embraced by the ghost of Teo Alessandri, who quickly turned to face Springtrap. As Springtrap raised his fist and threw it at Salina, Teo seemed to be attempting to block the strike.

The punch connected, nonetheless, and both Salina and Teo were thrown against the wall next to the propane tanks. Just before they impacted, Teo appeared to phase into Salina. The two were occupying the same space, and Salina herself emitted a subtle blue glow. The impact was loud and frightening, yet Salina found that she was able to stand. An impact that should have broken her spine had instead left her merely bruised and sore. Teo immediately separated from her again, clearly suffering in anguish himself. "Ah! It hurts, but... I swear. I'll help however I can." Then Teo disappeared.

With strength she did not know that she had, she quickly lifted the propane tank and one of the butane lighters from the bag of other items and tore off into the darkness in the hallways beyond.

She quickly devised an idea for a simple bomb. She would light the butane lighter, adjust the switch so that it would stay lit, wedge the lighter into the handle of the propane tank, and throw it at Springtrap. With luck, he would break it, and the lighter would ignite, causing an explosion. He had survived fire, but the explosive force of this propane bomb should be enough to blow him to pieces and end this permanently. Hopefully.

She rigged the lighter and waited for him to appear before her. In the dim light of the lighter and of the barely flickering fluorescent lights overhead, Springtrap could see that she was holding the propane tank.

"Oh, attempting to burn me again are you? I have survived worse fires, girl. Your plan was much better when you thought to drop a burning building on my head. This is just pathetic."

Salina swung her arm back and lobbed the propane tank forward as hard as she could.

It was not nearly as far as she had hoped. The tank was so heavy, even with her adrenaline pumping, she couldn't get it all the way to Springtrap. It got only about halfway before impacting against the ground, striking the opening at the top, breaking against the concrete, and igniting in a burst of flame.

In the split second before the shockwave hit her, Salina once again saw a blue-tinted ghost appear, this time of a red-haired girl, quickly embracing her before being struck with the flames.

The explosion, itself, was quite forceful. Springtrap had been knocked down, but it was too far away to have done significant damage to him. As Salina struggled to stand up again, she could feel that this was taking a serious toll on her body. She was bruised down to her bones, and her skin was stinging and blistering with first degree burns. She could no longer see the red-haired girl, Helen Gilliam, but she could feel her presence. Helen wept "I'm sorry. This is all I can do. I- I can't take much more of this!" Helen had disappeared, and her voice went silent again.

Salina managed to push past the pain and stand up. Through the flames that stood between her and Springtrap, she could see him standing up again, too.

"You WRETCHED BITCH! You are going to be the most SATISFYING kill of my WHOLE LIFE!" Springtrap screamed in rage. He started walking towards her, walking right through the flames. In their light, she could see that part of his head, one of his ears, and a piece of his shoulder had been blown away. It was not enough to make him vulnerable, but enough to give her confidence that an explosion at point-blank range would do him in.

Though her joints and muscles protested terribly, she turned her heel and sprinted away from him, around the back corridor and back toward the security room on the opposite side. She had to get to the remaining propane tank and lighter. She had to make sure it counted this time.

"I am going to CRUSH... EVERY PART OF YOU! ONE at a time... so that you can FEEL IT! I want to watch your face as you feel me RIP YOU APART! Piece BY PIECE!" Springtrap called through the halls.

She grabbed the last propane tank and lighter. She had just barely enough time to rig them together before Springtrap was upon her from behind. She had nowhere to run but into the observation chamber with Karl, so she ran, but now she was cornered, and he was too close. He was just across the room from her. She had only one desperate move left.

She turned around and brandished the propane tank over her head. "STOP!" And Springtrap stopped.

"One step closer... and I'll blow us BOTH up! At this range, even YOU can't survive."

Springtrap considered her threat for a moment. What could he do here? He could let her go, but aside from being an intolerable wound to his ego to let Salina escape a second time, she would likely set a trap for him at the top of the elevator. No, he had to stop her here and now. Then he stepped forward slowly. He considered that as long as he moved slowly and calmly and kept her in a state of confusion, she was unlikely to do something so drastic.

"Now, now, Salina. There is no need to get so... over-dramatic." He stepped closer.

"I MEAN IT! BACK OFF!" Salina's voice cracked. Her hands were shaking as she desperately clung to the propane tank and the lit butane lighter. She could not help but glance at Karl's broken dead body lying next to her. _Oh god. This is the end._ She thought to herself.

Springtrap raised his hands and continued walking very slowly toward her. "Just take a deep breath and think this through. If you throw that canister, you will die. It will sting me, certainly, but it will not kill me. You do have a way out, however. You seem to have me at a stalemate. Just hand over the bomb, and you can go."

"HA!" Salina spat back at him.

Springtrap was nearly there, and his rage boiled inside him; he could barely control himself anymore.

"Just think about it, girl. If you hand it over, I will be unable to harm you; my hands will be full. You can use that time to get away. Do not accept certain death when it will not even kill me in the process."

Salina wanted so badly to believe him. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she did not want to die. She knew, however, that he had to be bluffing. Given the damage she had already seen done to him, this would be more than a sting to him, and there was no way she could trust him to let her go.

He was still approaching slowly, now only a few feet away. He raised his fist. Salina raised the bomb, shut her eyes tight, and forced it down to the ground as hard as she could. Just as she shut her eyes, she could just barely see the appearance of five ghostly children embracing her, and she felt ready in this moment to go with them, to be done with this pain and fear once and for all. Even the propane tank, itself, appeared to have a faint blue glow. In that last moment, her panic was calmed by a strange sense of peace. She would go with these children. It was the only way to put an end to this terrible monster, and at least she would have friends to show her the way.

The tank cracked and ignited before Springtrap was able to stop Salina. The explosion was even more powerful than the previous one, even without considering how close the two were to it. Springtrap's body was completely shattered, the legs, left arm, and head all having been blown apart from the torso, and every piece having been scattered throughout the room.

* * *

The dark shade appeared before Death once again.

 _Death, I have an offer that I would like to make to you._

"I wish to hear **nothing** from you, dark one. You have interfered **far** too much already!"

The shade laughed. _Oh, no, no, you do me too little credit. This will be mutually beneficial. Ah, I believe that you are_ really _going to like this offer, actually._

"What could you **possibly** have to entice me?" Death sneered.

 _Souls. Six souls, in fact. I offer you six souls that I have been keeping from your grasp, six innocent, well,_ mostly _innocent souls that you can finally take to their final rest. I promise never to influence or interfere with any of those six again if you accept my offer._

"What do you **want?** "

 _One. One soul. There is just one that I want you to let me take and to offer no resistance. One terribly wicked soul that would be quite a lot of trouble for you anyway, I would imagine. Six for one. Now, would you not say that is quite a generous offer?_

"I **cannot** allow that wicked soul to continue wandering this world. He has caused **too much** -"

 _Oh, do not worry about that. I have no intention of keeping him in this realm the way I have been. I promise, you shall never again see the one you leave with me if you agree to my deal._

"You mean..." Death appeared to realize something, and then Death's expression turned sour. "You are disgusting... you did **all** of this just for-"

 _Now, now, do you want_ me _to keep those six innocents, or are you going to accept my offer?_

"... Though it pains me greatly... I will take those six to their rest. I agree to your terms."

 _You are most wise, Death. Let it not be said that I never did you any favors._

"I hope that we do **not** speak again."

 _Oh, be not so cold, Death. Indeed I will need nothing from you for a long time, but we may yet be able to work together someday._

* * *

"THOSE ROTTEN LITTLE URCHINS BETRAYED ME!" Vincent screamed. "I am going to give them such EXQUISITE PAIN for this!"

Vincent reached out with his mind, with his soul, but the children were all beyond his reach. He was unable to harm them, to bring them back under his control. "WHAT?! Where is my POWER?!"

 _You will not be needing it anymore._ The shade spoke gleefully.

"YOU! What is going on?" Vincent demanded.

 _You are done! All done!_

The shade seemed to cheer.

 _I have been watching you for a very,_ very _long time, Vincent Blakeslee. Very seldom does a soul quite as dark and corrupt as yours come along, a very special specimen indeed._

Vincent remained silent, curious to hear what the shade was trying to convey.

 _I knew that, if cultivated properly, if aged just right, if put in the proper circumstances to build up even more pain and hatred, you could become one of the most deeply evil and corrupt souls of the century. You did not disappoint me, Vincent. You came through at every turn. Yours is a very special soul, indeed, very rare._

Vincent's patience was wearing thin. "Get to the point. What do you want?"

 _Hmm, well, I am quite a connoisseur. I only accept the best, personally. Innocent souls, well, they are simply so bland and tasteless, I would not sully my palette with them. Mostly, I just ignore them, except of course when they can be used to help ripen and develop a soul like_ yours _._

A face appeared out of the shadows. Not a head, just a face. It bore dark red, sharp eyes and glimmering, sharp teeth. The face moved as the shade spoke.

 _ **I have waited so,**_ **so** ** _long for this moment, Vincent. Now it is time._**

"What?! Hey!" Vincent called out as a flaming red tongue snaked out from the face and grazed Vincent's foot. He immediately fell to the floor screaming hysterically. The pain was leagues beyond any sort of physical pain, beyond anything he had ever experienced being crushed in that suit. It struck him to the very core of his being. It felt as if he were losing a part of his mind, as if his soul were being ripped apart.

The shade giggled.

 _ **Ah! Yes! The anticipation is wonderful! That was just a**_ **nibble** _ **, my good Vincent! Now, to dig in!**_

"Wait! Stop, please!" Vincent cried out. He was scared. For the first time in his entire life, he was terrified. "No, NO! I can still help you, I'm sure! Please! I'll- I'll do anything you want!"

The shade did stop for a moment.

 _ **You'll do**_ **anything** _ **I want?**_

It asked practically giddy with cheer.

Vincent nodded rapidly, "Yes, YES! Anything!"

The shade leaned in very closely and spoke clearly but softly.

 _ **Then, please... scream, cry, and beg for mercy while I continue, won't you? That will make this**_ **much** _ **more pleasant for me. Hee hee hee!**_

The shade's mouth opened wide, revealing more teeth, more tongues, and more fire, and the air was shattered by Vincent's mad screams.

* * *

Salina looked around her. She saw the broken, shattered body of Springtrap. It was not moving, and neither was it making any sound. The pieces she could identify were smoldering with the residual flame. It appeared to finally be over.

She also saw chunks of human flesh around her, broken off and scorched body parts that had recently been alive, along with copious bloodstains. In any other context, she would have been horrified and disgusted, but now, she mostly just felt sad. She mourned her own death, sorry that her body had to have been destroyed in such a grotesque manner.

But she took solace in the fact that she had brought Springtrap down once and for all. He was gone, and he was never getting back up, not after that blast.

After a few moments, she saw the faint blue images of the children fade into her view, and nearby, from a bright golden portal stepped the image of a beautiful, older woman wearing a shimmering, flowing blue gown.

"My children" the woman spoke in a voice that seemed loud and clear without being harsh on one's ears. "you poor, innocent souls."

"I'm sorry! We-" the youngest ghost child, Nils, began to speak, but the woman interrupted him.

"Be still. Your pain and torment may now end."

The children all gasped and were otherwise silent, eagerly anticipating what the woman was about to say. Salina looked on in rapt attention, scarcely able to comprehend what she was witnessing, but feeling a sense of peace and calm nonetheless.

The woman continued. "You all have been released from your previous bonds, and I now offer you a rare second chance to come with me to a place where you will be comforted and allowed to rest."

The children began crying tears of joy, unable to speak, some of them nodding frantically. Hanna clutched her little brother to her while weeping with elation, while Helen and Teo held each other's hands and walked toward the woman. Freddy Pryor stood up, released a deep sigh, looking at the shattered remains of Springtrap and smiled with satisfaction. He, too, nodded and approached the woman's embrace.

There still remained one standing aside. Mark Ayers, the one who had inhabited the puppet all this time, the one whose rage had driven the recruitment of each of the other children, whose blind fury had driven them to attack anyone who vaguely resembled the killer that they all shared, remained still.

"Wait here a moment." The woman said to the other children. As she approached Mark, her form warped and shifted, now resembling that of a stern schoolteacher.

Mark stammered. "I- I don't understand. It should be over, but..."

"Mark. It **is** over. There is **nothing** left for you here. Come with me now."

"I... I know I should, but... I still hate him. I **hate** him so much!"

"Mark, he is gone, and he will trouble no one. It is time to come with everyone else. Though you initially died innocent, you have to answer for your corruption of these and the harming of other innocents. In only a short time, you will be purged of your hatred, and you, too will find rest, but you must come with me now. There will not be a third chance."

Mark angrily clenched his fists. After working for this for so long, he wondered why was this not more satisfying.

Nils then approached Mark and said, "Thank you, Mark!"

Mark unclenched his fists and looked over at Nils, who continued. "You helped us when we were all alone and after the bad man hurt us!" Hanna followed her little brother. "Yes, Mark. Thank you. With your help, we did more than we thought we could."

Hanna stepped up and added, "We won, Mark! We actually won!" Mark was starting to smile.

Freddy put his hand on Mark's shoulders. "We saw justice done today, and it's all because of you, Mark. Now, please come with us. You, as much as any of us, deserve to enjoy this. We want you to be there with us as we celebrate."

Mark looked concerned for a moment as something occurred to him. He turned to Death and asked, "But, we all were still here after losing our machine bodies. What about _him_? Where is he now? How do we know he's not going to come back?"

Death looked sad for a moment and seemed to take a second to carefully choose her words. "He has been... banished from this realm forever. I have... done what I needed to ensure that he will never come back. I promise you this with as strong a bond as I can. Please, Mark."

Mark sighed deeply.

"Okay."

Mark nodded, looked up at his friends and smiled. "Okay! I'll come with you!" The children and Death all embraced and headed toward the shimmering bright portal from which Death had appeared.

Salina stepped forward as well, ready to head into the portal and to whatever awaited her, glad to be in the company of these children.

Death looked at her and stopped. "You. You _see_ me?"

Salina stopped. She had no idea what to say.

Death smiled after a short pause. "I see. Your bond to these children is strong. I must take them away from you now, but they are in good hands. You will see them again someday, but not for a long time, Salina. Live well."

Salina could hardly believe what she was seeing and hearing. The glowing portal became too bright for her to see, and when the glow faded, there were no more ghosts, no more portal, no more strange woman shepherding the children. She was in the observation chamber of the bunker, next to a blast crater, the pieces of Springtrap and... where was Karl?

"Oh!" Salina exclaimed out loud, as she quickly patted herself down, feeling her body still intact. Karl's slumped-over body was nowhere to be found. It was, instead, in pieces across the floor. The blood and gore she had seen had been his, not hers!

She started to stand, and was overjoyed to feel her joints and muscles ache, her skin stinging and burning, proof positive that she was alive. She was alive!

She laughed, and her laughter quickly turned to tears as she was overwhelmed with relief after everything she had witnessed.

She whispered "thank you." She knew that it was the protection of all five of those children who had embraced her at the end that had prevented her from dying right there. The sixth one had likely imbued his spirit into the tank, itself, making it more powerful an explosion.

She no longer felt the presence of the children, and she did not know whether or not they heard her thank them, but she was grateful all the same. The nightmare was finally over.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _This is it. The REAL ending. :)_

 _So, what did you think? I am deeply grateful to everyone who took the time to read this story of mine, and I would be even more grateful to see all of the thoughts you had about it, including any constructive criticism or other notes. What did this story make you feel? What did you find most intriguing, interesting, or memorable about it?_

 _Thank you all so much! Bye-bye!_


End file.
